A 'Normal' Life
by Loyal and Just
Summary: "Hunter's don't get a life. They don't get to have a family, or friends, or connections." Sam said. "Say's who?" She asked in tears. Could a hunter really have a family? What happens when Sam meets a girl he doesn't have to leave the life for, because she's in it too. Rated M because I honestly have no idea where I'm going with this and I want to be prepared.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these fantastic characters or their universe. Though I wish I did, because trust me, there would be some changes.**

* * *

"3 missing girls, one found disemboweled in the woods. Sound like there's something there?" Sam asked his brother from across the small dinner table.

"Yeah sure, sounds weird enough. Don't know if it's our kind of weird, but weird is weird. Where's it at?" Dean spoke between bites.

"About 700 miles up in South Dakota."

"Dakota, why hasn't Bobby checked in on this?"

"I don't know, maybe because it's on the opposite side of the state. Rapid City, Bobby's over in Sioux Falls. Either way we can call him on the road. We've got a long ride ahead of us, we better head out." Sam folded his news paper up and began to stand up.

"Wait wait wait wait wait, hold up and let a man finish his pie first thing in the morning." Dean stopped his brother with a rushed tone.

Sam rolled his eyes and sat back down, grabbing his news paper to continue reading as he waited for his brother.

* * *

"Bobby hey, yeah, it's me Sam. We're heading up to check on a case in your neck of the woods. Do you know anything about the disappearances in Rapid?" Sam spoke loudly over the phone to compensate for the howling wind coming from Dean's open window on the adjacent side of the car as they drove.

"Rapid? Yeah I think I'd heard something about it vaguely. Do you really think that's our kind of weird?" Bobby replied.

"Well a girl being disemboweled in the wood is definitely a kind of weird. Weird enough for me."

"Disemboweled? You mean they found one of the girls? I though it was just missing persons cases?" Bobby's tone was surprised.

"It was, but one of them isn't missing anymore."

"Well damn, I can meet you boys over there when you get here. How far out are you?"

"Just about 200 miles out. And thanks Bobby, we appreciate the help." Dean heard a grumbling barely audible voice from across the phone "See you there. Yeah buy." Sam hung up the phone and laid back in his seat to try and rest some more.

"So Bobby didn't know anything?"

"No, but he said he'd meet us there and help."

"Well that's great. Going in blind, I love that." Dean said sarcastically. "Do we have any leads at all?"

"No, but we'll find out when we get there. Now if you'll please be quiet, we have about 4 more hours of driving time and I would like to get some sleep."

"Well damn, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your beauty sleep princess." Dean rolled his eyes before placing his them back on the road.

* * *

Sam and Dean pulled up into a RAMADA parking lot and got situated in their rooms.

"Bobby's about an hour out, he said he's meet us when he gets here." Sam told his brother as they situated and unpacked their things in their room.

"Okay, well where to first?" Dean asked.

"I figured the usual, FBI cover, interview the victims families, see if we can get a picture of whats going on here."

"Sounds like a plan." Dean responded.

* * *

Sam and Dean approached a large house

"Damn where the hell are we? These people live in the middle of nowhere?" Dean said annoyed.

"It's farm country man, people live on farms in the middle of nowhere, that's how it works." Sam said as he reached forward to knock on the door.

A young red head opened the door to greet them "Hello?" She said confused by the picture of two men in suits standing at her front door.

The three took a moment to just look at each other.

The girl was young, but not too young. She looked to be 17 or 18. _Old enough_ Dean thought, and smirked. She was tall too, not just for a girl but for a person. She stood before them 5 feet 10 inches tall in a tank top jeans and over sized flannel. Her hair was a bright auburn and fell straight just barely reaching the top of her waist line.

She looked the men over. They looked young for FBI. _They have to be FBI_ she thought The cops had already been through asking questions, and it was either FBI or Mormons dressed like that. One was abnormally hot, not her type exactly, but no one could deny he was a pretty dude. The other was taller , kind of scrawny, but cute in an awkward kind of way. He was the one that brought the FBI theory to a halt. He couldn't be older then 22, and she thought that seemed pretty young for a field agent.

"Hi, agents Thompson and Stone, FBI," Dean spoke and they both flashed their badges. "We're here to ask you a few questions." Dean talked with his signature swagger trying to impress her.

She cocked an eyebrow in response to his obvious attempt. "Aren't you too a bit young to be FBI?" Her tone aimed toward Dean but her eyes looked at Sam, the obviously younger one.

They stiffened at her response "He's new" Dean tried to brush it off with a light hearted tone pointing at Sam.

She raised her eyebrows, obviously doubting them, "Alright, come on in." She turned from them and went to sit down. "Make yourselves at home." she said signals to the other side of the couch for them to sit down.

The 'agents' sat down across from her. "So were you Elizabeth's roommate or.." Sam started.

"Sister." The girl responded. "She was my older sister."

"Sisters, okay, that makes more sense. So this is your parents huge house?" Dean responded.

"Yeah," all her attitude had vanished at the mention of her sister. She had known that's why they were there, but the mention of her name brought it all flooding back to her.

"And where are your parents now?" Sam spoke gently, noticing her obvious change.

"Out of town. They were visiting my aunt in Michigan when Beth was taken, they got a plane as soon as they heard but they keep being delayed." She spoke softly.

"Ok, well then we're just going to have to ask you our questions, if that's alright with you.." Dean trailed off looking at her signaling for a name.

"Catherine" she filled in the blank.

"Catherine" Dean repeated. "So did you and your sister both live at home?"

"No, Beth hasn't lived here for over a year, and I've been trying to move out for the past months, but I don't think I'll be able to do that now that she gone. I don't think my parent's could take it." she answered.

"Were you and your sister close?" Same asked.

"Not really."

There was a pause as the 'agents' waited for her to elaborate, but then Dean spoke up.

"I see, any particular reason or?.."

"Not really, just stupid sibling rivalry stuff. We were just two different people. Beth's always been more of a wild child, she went to parties, hung out with guys. Stuff like that."

"Oh, so she was the cool one, and you're the nerdy quiet one?" Dean joked nudging his brother inferring the similarity.

Catherine looked at him confused and Sam quickly shot him a look saying 'not the time'.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about your sister's disappearance? Has she been acting strangely, or have you noticed anything else weird going on lately?" Sam asked.

"Um, not really. We really didn't see each other that much. And as for general weird, the amount of young girls around my age including my sister going missing has been pretty weird. And it'd be good if someone could stop that."

"I see. Well, I think that's pretty much it on our side with the questions." Dean looked over to Sam to see if he had any questions. When he said nothing Dean stood up and signaled for Sam to follow. "If you think of anything else call us." He said handing Catherine a small card.

Catherine followed the two to the door. Right before she shut it Sam turned around "We'll be in touch. And again, we're so sorry for your loss."

"Thanks" She said up at him before they left.

"Woow" Dean exclaimed as they sat back in the Impala.

"What?" Sam asked.

"That girl."

"What about her?" Sam asked.

"I'm sorry. 'What about her' did we just see the same girl?" Dean responded.

"Dean she was barely 18. "

"Yeah Sam, but hot is hot. And that over 18 year old girl was definitely hot. I mean she was like an Amazon, did you see how tall she was. And her hair, god, you know I love me a red head. Plus, did you see her-"

"Ok, I get it, stop." Sam cut Dean off right before he could lift his hands over his chest to symbolize breasts.

"What they were huge!"

"Okay, yeah she was hot. But she also just lost her sister and is almost 10 years younger then you. Dean please promise you aren't gonna creep on her if we run into her again on this case?"

"Hey I do not creep. It is not my fault if my natural charisma draws women in." Dean laughed as they drove back into town.

* * *

"So any idea what we're dealing with here?" Bobby asked the boys as he sat down on the side of one of the hotel beds.

"Not really. Full moon mixed with disembowelment makes me think werewolf, but kidnapping doesn't really fit that MO." Sam answered.

"Plus that body was way too clean for a beast. The was definitely done by a knife of some kind." Dean added.

"Full moons are common in a lot of rituals. It could be witch craft, some kind of sacrifice maybe." Sam spit balled.

"Yeah, but sacrifices usually entail the, how should I put this.. pure. Especially when we're talking young girls." Dean mentioned.

"Pure?" Bobby asked.

"You know of the white and holy variety." Dean responded. Sam and Bobby both starred at him confused. "Virgins, I'm talkin about virgins."

"Ohh" Sam responded.

"Well how do you know they aren't all virgins?" Bobby asked.

"The Beth girl, her sister said she was something of a 'wildchild'. You know, guys, parties, the whole shebang." Dean responded.

"Plus Catherine said Beth's been living with her boyfriend for the past year." Sam added.

"Oh, so she's Catherine now." Dean said sarcastically.

"What, that's her name?" Sam defended.

"So when I think the girl's hot, she's 18. But when you think the girl's hot, she's Catherine." Dean said her name with a sophisticated flare at the end of his sentence.

"Shut up man. I was just saying her name." Sam defended himself.

"You shut up." Dean retorted.

"The both of you. Shut it." Bobby looked at the pair. "The both of you are acting like children. Now I agree with Sam, it does sound like some type of witch craft. So let's get to work and try and figure out what the spell is for and how we can stop it."

The two men looked at the older man and nodded sheepishly like children who had just gotten yelled at by their dad.

* * *

"I think I've got something." Sam announced to the room setting down the book he'd been studying.

"What is it?" Bobby asked walking over to look at the book.

"Well I don't know exactly, there isn't really a name or anything. But the book mentions a ritual done by a witch on a full moon, sacrificing 4 young, quote 'beautiful', uh 'experienced' girls." Sam explained.

"Experienced? As in" he paused "experienced, experienced?" Dean laughed. "Well I guess virgins definitely wasn't the right angle."

"Guess not" Sam responded.

"So what exactly does the ritual do that it requires such a specific type of sacrifice?" Dean asked.

"Well supposedly it's some type of channeling thing. The witch draws in the girls beauty and absorbs it for herself."

"And the 'experienced' part?"

"Well girls, like that, usually give off a kind of aura too them, you know like pheromones. That extra little something that attracts men to them more then other girls. And the witch absorbs that too, making her almost irresistible to men." Sam explained.

"So they don't have to be, non virgins, they just have to be the type?" Dean asked.

"No, virgins won't work. Don't ask me why but it is clear about that. And their's more, something about blood I think, but it's in Latin and harder to decipher."

"So the witch still needs one more girl, and we have one more day to try and stop her. Last night of the full moon is tomorrow so we better get on it." Dean announced.

"Ok so where are we going to find a group of socially promiscuous young teenage girls?" Bobby asked.

Dean turned his head to look at Sam, a mischievous smile stretching across his entire face. "Cheer practice." He announced happily like a child in a candy store.


	2. Chapter 2

**(I'm watching Supernatural rn while I write this, and I just finished the episode where [SPOILER ALERT] Bobby dies. And I am bawling my fricken eyes out. I am so sad rn. I love Bobby.)**

* * *

The next morning Sam and Dean stepped out of the Impala in their FBI suits at the local high school.

"Hehe, cheer practice!" Dean said excitedly with a chuckle as they walked to the gym.

"Come on Dean, they're teenagers." Sam chastised.

"Hot, athletic teenagers, who are definitely adult sized, in tiny skirts. Who also happen to be leads. All 3 of the girls who have been taken all ready have been on this squad. I am allowed to be happy about this Sam." Dean responded.

"Just don't be creepy."

"I am never creepy. I creep on no woman that does not want to be creeped on."

Sam rolled his eyes and opened the door of the gym. They walked forward into the large florescent lit room to the image of a group of at least 15 or more young girls. All clad in spandex and athletic t-shirts.

"Ladies!" Dean announced their presence enthusiastically. They all looked over at the two men alarmed. "Who's in charge here?" he asked flashing his badge to the group.

"Our assistant coach is in the back room over there." One of the younger girls responded.

"She'll be back in a few minutes though if you want to wait." One of the older girls said suggestively making eye's at Dean.

Dean smiled with a raised eyebrow, but Sam interrupted before he could respond "We'll just go back and find her" he said grabbing his brother and dragging him along. The pair entered a back room to see the back of a tall red headed girl.

"Catherine?" Sam asked allowed.

Catherine turned to face the pair. "Agents?" She answered surprised.

"Oh please, agents sounds so formal. You can call me Dean," Dean smiled charmingly at her, after he paused for a minute he turned to look at his brother "and this is Sam." He finished.

She paused and looked at him confused. "Well, Sam and Dean, you can call me Cat. Now what are you guys doing here? Have there been any advancements in the case?" She sounded excited with the last part of her sentence.

"No, sorry." Sam responded sympathetically. "We're just here following up on some leads."

"I see." She looked down dejected.

"As for the what we're doing here Cat, I could ask you the same question." Dean interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Catherine responded.

"You just didn't really strike me as the cheer leading type?"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Cat placed her hands on her hips and looked at the older man eyebrows raised.

"It's just, you said you were a nerd."

"Yeah, and?" She said offended.

Dean opened his mouth to speak but got cut off. "It doesn't matter." Sam attempted to temper the room. "So you're the assistant cheer coach?" Sam asked the girl.

"Technically. I'm just helping out. We have a lot of new girls this year and the coach wanted some help teaching the dances and things right at the beginning here. What exactly are the leads you're following up that lead you here?" she asked.

"All the missing girls, they had all been members of your team." Sam answered. Dean looked up like he was about to speak when Sam turned to whisper to him. "Why don't you go interview some of the other girls." Dean looked like he was going to protest but thought better of it and left. "I thought you'd be more comfortable if he left."

"Thanks." She smiled up at him. "Is he always like that?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely." He replied making Catherine laugh. "So Beth, Olivia, and Dawn were all on your team within the past 2 years right?" Cat nodded. "Were you close with any of the victims?"

"Not really. Liv and Dawn were both close with Beth, so they've both been to the house, but that's about the closest we got. They were like Beth, you know, not really my kind of people."

"I see. Any other girls Beth and them were particularly close with?"

"No it was just the three of them. They 'ruled the school' you know. No one could touch them" She looked down sad for a minute remembering her sister fondly. "And everyone loved them." Her tone changed to resentment.

"You don't sound too happy about that?" He questioned.

"It's nothing. I've just never understood why girls like that are so popular. I get that high schools over now and I should be over it. And I am I guess, but it just sucks you know?"

"Oh trust me I know. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, but no matter where we went my older brother was always the cool guy and I was always the cool guy and I always some how got labeled the freak.

"Exactly."

The two sat for a minute in shared appreciation of being the awkward "less cool" younger sibling.

"Well, is there anyone else you can think of off the top of your head that would fit the profile?"

"There's a handful of girls out there I could give you names of. But that's about all I know, I wasn't particularly close with any of the girls on the team. Your partner was right, I'm really not the cheer leading type."

"So why do you do it?"

"Because I'm good at it. And, I don't know, it's just something I've always done I guess. And, I don't know, there's just nothing like the feeling of being responsible for saving someone else's life. It's ama- I mean I guess you'd know" She laughed embarrassed at the end.

"Saving someone's life?"

"Yeah, stunting. In a stunt when you throw your flyer in the air, it's your job to keep her safe. To make her feel secure. If she hits the floor she could get seriously hurt, girls have died in stunts, and if anything happens to her, it's on you. So when you catch her and you hit everything perfectly, it's the most amazing feeling in the world. You know?" she looked at him, eyes wide. "I'm rambling, sorry."

"It's okay." He paused, "And, yeah. I do get it. There's nothing like saving a person's life."

She smiled. "Exactly!"

* * *

"So what'd you get from the girls?" Sam asked Dean as they drove back to the hotel to meet Bobby.

"Nothing really. Most of them barely even knew the girls and the ones who did didn't have a lot to say other than how 'amazing' they thought they were." Dean answered. "What about you, what'd you and little miss 'I can be what I want' talk about that I had to be out of the room?"

"Oh come on man, it wasn't like that. You're just both strong personalities and I thought she'd be more comfortable if you weren't there."

"Well thanks, that makes me feel so much better. And what do you mean we're both 'strong personalities'?"

"I just mean, you can be a bit- abrasive. And she obviously doesn't think you're as funny as you do. Look she's a nice girl, I think you two just got off on the wrong foot."

" _A nice girl?_ Sam what the hell did you two even talk about?" Dean asked starting to get worked up.

"Nothing, we just kinda talked about what it's like to be the younger sibling when you'r older sibling is the cool, outgoing one that everyone else likes. And how it sucks to be underappreciated when saving people's lives."

"Saving people's lives? What does she know about saving people's lives?"

"Stunting. Cheering's a lot more dangerous then people give it credit for."

"Oh, come on man. I can't believe what I'm hearing right now. I mean do you even hear yourself? _Cheering's a lot more dangerous then people give it credit for._ " He said mockingly "You sound like a fricken girl." Sam looked down because he knew he couldn't really defend himself. At least not in a way Dean would acknowledge. "Look, did you find out anything for the case?"

"Yeah, Cat gave me a list of girls she said fit the same profile we're looking for. She also said that all the girls that were taken were friends, so we could use that information to try and look for the witch. See who had it out for them, or I don't know, admired them. Since the spell is about becoming like them."

"That's a start." Dean said as they continued to drive.

* * *

"Any luck on finding out who our next victim is?" Sam asked his brother when he entered the hotel room.

"Nope. All the girls were the same, you know in a pretty, airhead, kind of way. Non really stood out as having that special quality though. How about on the suspect front?" Sam shook his head. "Great, and now we're back to square zero."

"Well we need to figure something else out because the ritual needs another girl by tonight." Sam stressed.

"I know that Sammy," Dean started getting frustrated, _why is this case so difficult_ "Bobby, you got anything else from the book?"

"I'm working on it, but this Latin is tricky. I think it says that the ritual is to be done at midnight in a place of incrementum."

"Incre what? English please." Dean asked.

"Incrementum. I think it means growth right?" Sam asked looking over to Bobby.

"Yeah" Bobby responded.

"Okay so what does a place of growth mean?" Dean asked.

"Like a garden?" Sam asked the room.

"I guess, we don't have any other idea's."

"Ok, so how are we going to find a garden? We're in fricken farm country, this entire town is a fricken 'place of growth'."

"And back to square one." Sam looked down dejectedly. "Do we have any other leads?"

"The last victim," Bobby read from the book. "She's going to be the 'best' one in our witches eyes" Bobby used air quotations as he spoke.

"Why's that?" Dean asked.

"Because the other three she just absorbs a part of, a different part of each girl so I gather. But the last girl, the last girl she fully absorbs. She becomes the full embodiment of. She'll still be herself, but everything everyone perceives and loves about our last victim, she'll become."

\- Hours of research later -

"We're running out of time, she probably has the 4th girl by now and we still have no idea who or where to stop this." Dean shouted frustrated sitting down on the couch and catching his face in his palms.

"Calm down we still have time to figure this out. We know she can't kill the last victim until the ritual is complete, so there's still hope for saving whoever she is." Bobby calmed.

"Bobby it's already 10 o'clock. The ritual is happening in less then 2 hours. Dean's right we're running out of time." Sam agreed.

"Well we aren't helping anyone in this hotel room. I'm out, Bobby call us if you find anything." Dean said grabbing his coat and heading for the door.

"And what exactly do you plan on doing out there?" Bobby answered.

"I don't know, but it beats sitting on my ass in here. Guess we're just going to drive around and hope to God we stumble across an old pagan ritual in a garden." Dean said. "Come on Sammy." and with that the boys were gone and Bobby was left alone with his books.


	3. Chapter 3

"Dean where are we going? We have no idea what we're even looking for." Sam said beside his brother in the car.

"I don't know man but I couldn't just stay locked up in that hotel." He slammed his fists against the wheel. "I just hate how useless I feel right now, Can't wait for the witch because we don't know where the ritual's being held. Can't track the witch because we don't know who she is. Can't protect anyone because we don't know who she's aiming for."

"Tell me about it. Ok, let's just think about this from the beginning and see if we figure something el-" Sam was cut off by his phone ringing. "It's Bobby" he said frantically flipping the phone open to answer it. "Bobby hey, find anything?"

"Yeah actually, no thanks to you guys." Bobby grunted over the phone.

"Yeah we know, no time though Bobby, what'd you find?" Dean asked over the speaker.

"It says that the final step of the ritual must be done with the live blood of the first sacrifice."

"First sacrifice? As in the first girl dead?" Dean asked.

"That's what I'm thinking." Bobby responded.

"That's Beth, but how can you have a dead girl's living blood?" Sam asked, then suddenly his face went serious "Dean drive."

"What?" He asked alarmed.

"Catherine. The last victim is Catherine. The blood of Beth's living blood complete's the ritual. So drive. Bobby gotta go." Sam said hanging up his phone.

"Sammy are you sure about this? Cat lives in the middle of no where, if you're wrong about this we won't have time to come back and help anyone. We got one shot at th-"

" _Dean Drive_ " Sam shouted. Dean didn't need to be told a third time. He stepped on the gas and they were on their way.

* * *

"You check out behind the barn, I'm going in." Sam told his brother as he ran up the stairs.

"CAT" Sam yelled through the house.

All the lights were off and the only bit of light was the moon light shinning through the window. When Sam didn't hear a response he knew she wasn't there. He still searched every room before heading out.

Unknown to him there was only one place he should've looked. Catherine was in her closet hands tied in front of her with a gag in her mouth not screaming because of the knife held over her throat.

Sam ran out behind the barn to find Dean. "Find anything?" He asked.

"No. Place's clean"

"Dammit" Sam shouted frustrated.

"Look she's probably out with some friends, I told you we were headed in the wrong direction."

"We aren't. I know she has her."

Suddenly the pair heard the screech of an engine and wheels turning.

"SAM" a familiar female voice screamed in a muffled cry and the brothers began running.

When they rounded the corner the car was nearing the end of the street, Sam ran after the vehicle but it was driving too fast. Catherine screamed out one more time before the car was out of sight.

Sam stopped running and turned to get back to Dean and the Impala. "Dean car now." He yelled.

"Bitch!" Dean announced. "She popped the wheels."

"She what?" Sam said angrily approaching his brother.

"Popped the wheels, Baby's not moving out of here."

* * *

When Catherine woke up she was lying on the floor in what felt like a large burlap sack. She was hot, too hot. She opened her eyes to see she was inches away from a burning fire. The fire lite up a familiar face as she chanted words Catherine didn't understand. Catherine tried to move but realized she was still bound by her hands and feet.

"Oh look she's awake" the witch said noticing Cat's movements.

"Nicole? What are you doing? What's going on?"

Nicole was a girl who had tried out for the team every year. This year was her senior year and she hadn't made it yet again.

"You girls all think you're so special huh. Like you're the only ones that matter. Well jokes on you now I'm gong to matter too." Nicole said angrily adding herbs to a bowl.

"Nicole what are you talking about? What do you mean 'you girls'?" Catherine looked around some more taking in her surroundings when she saw Dawn and Olivia lifeless laying in a corner. She screamed.

"Oh calm down. You'll be just like them in a minute. No need to worry now."

"Why are you doing this?" She cried.

"Because all you girls just walk around like it's so easy to be perfect. You act like you don't care but everyone cares about you. I try so hard and still, not a single guy looks my way. I train all year and I can't even make the fucking cheer squad. So now it's my turn to be perfect."

"I don't know what you're talking about" Catherine continued to cry. _Sam where are you. Please help me._ She though as she wept but nothing came out. She knew no one was coming to save her.

Nicole drained vials of Dawn and Olivia's blood into a metal bowl then carried out a heart Catherine assumed had to be Beth's. She cried even more at the sight.

"Oh will you shut up." Nicole snapped before she continued to chant over the alter.

A minute later she was walking toward Catherine. "You're turn" Catherine struggled but in the ropes she couldn't get away. She held Catherine standing up over the alter and began to chant. Suddenly a the sound of a shot gun sounded and the 'agents' from before were standing in front of them.

"SAM" Catherine screamed before Nicole put a knife to her neck shutting her up.

"Drop the girl" Dean yelled at the witch.

"No can do boys. This one's mine." She moved the blade and quickly cut Catherine's wrist before replacing it at her neck. Catherine screamed at the sudden pain. "To late too. The ritual will be complete any second now, and I can finally kill this bitch."

"You don't have to do this." Sam tried to reason inching closer. "What did Cat ever do to you."

"To me?" Nicole sounded offended. "It's not what she did to me, it's what she did to everyone. Walking around like she's little miss perfect all the time. The other three at least knew the were skanks. But Catherine over here," She twisted the knife tighter at her name. "Walks around like she's some kind of saint. She's smart, she's funny, and she's so damn nice to everyone. And everyone seems to just believe her charade, not me though. I see you for the conniving little slut you are. And now I get to be just like you."

There was a silence and Nicole looked down to see if the blood from Catherine's wrist had dropped into the alter yet. Sam and Dean stood still across from her still not moving in fear she might react and slice Cat's throat.

It was taking too long, Nicole thought so she grabbed onto Catherine's wrist and squeezed making the blood poor out. "Time's out boys" She said snarkily as the blood hit the bowl. Nicole, Sam, and Dean braced themselves knowing that the blood should've caused a small spark/ explosion if the spell worked, but nothing happened. They all looked down in confusion.

"What!?" Nicole shouted.

"Looks like you're the one that's out of time bitch." Dean responded. Sam ran at her and she dropped the knife and Catherine.

Catherine began to fall to the ground but Sam caught her before she hit the fire. She continued to sob but Sam comforted her telling her she was okay now.

Dean ran at Nicole and tried to grab her but she escaped his reach. Fortunately for them she ran in the wrong direction and slipped falling into the fire of the alter she had created. The second the fire touched her skin she was done for, she burst into flames. Catherine clung to Sam in terror at the sight. Nicole was screaming in pain as the flames rose up around him. Then as soon as it rose it was gone and so was she. All that was left was a pile of ash on an alter. Catherine fainted in shock.


	4. Chapter 4

When Catherine woke up she was in the back of the impala on the road. It took her a moment to register her surroundings but when she did she sat up in alarm.

"Someone's awake." Dean said.

"Where am I?" she asked in a panic.

"Hey hey, it's just us. You're okay" Sam assured. "We're just driving you home."

"Agents?" She said still confused. Then she remembered all the events of the evening. "You aren't agents are you?"

Sam looked down. "No."

"Then what are you? What happened back there?"

"What happened back there was we saved your ass from a witch" Dean responded insensitivly making Sam glare at him.

"A what?"

"A witch" Sam repeated with more caution then his brother.

"Witches are real? Are you kidding me?" She started to hyperventilate. _This can't be happening. Shit like this isn't real. That's fairy tale bs. Nicole was just crazy. That's it. Then how did that happen with the fire. She was completely burnt to ash_. She thought to herself.

"Sadly we're not." Dean answered.

"Look, Nicole was a witch and she was trying to sacrifice you for some kind of a ritual, but it's okay. We killed her. It's over now. She can't hurt you, you're safe."

Catherine sat for a minute to process everything and think. _Safe, what'd that even mean. How could she possibly be safe ever again if there were witches and God knows what else out there just waiting to kill her._ "Why didn't the ritual work?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"My blood. She pored it into the alter and you all acted like something was supposed to happen and nothing did. Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe she did it wrong. Maybe you're blood wasn't right?"

"What do you mean my blood wasn't right?"

"I don't know, only qualifications we know of for the blood is had to blood of the first victims blood" there was a pause.

"My sister" Catherine said quietly.

"And you had to not be a virgin."

"Oh" She responded. _That's why._

There was a silence as the brothers both comprehended her meaning. Dean laughed and they rode in silence for another few minutes.

"Then what are you guys?"

"We're hunters. We hunt down the monsters that go bump in the night and we take the suckers out." Dean responded.

"Monsters? As in multiple. There's more then just witches out there?"

"Oh yeah. A hell of a lot more. Any monster you've ever had a nightmare of, we've seen it, we've fought it and we've kicked it's ass."

"Dean you aren't helping" Sam chastised at the look of terror spreading across Catherine's face.

"Look it's not like she doesn't already know. Now the more she knows the safer she'll be." The brothers argued.

Finally they had arrived back at her house. She was tired and could barely walk. Sam got out and helped her up to her room.

"We'll check back in on you in the morning. But then we're out of town." Sam said helping Cat down onto her bed. He turned for the door to leave.

"Stop" Catherine sounded as soon as he grab hold of the handle.

He turned around, "What is it?"

"I don't want to be alone" Catherine said weakly. "Not tonight. Not after what happened."

Sam couldn't help but agree. She looked so fragile and he could tell she needed him. Sam told Dean to come back for him in the morning. Sam watched over her as she slept. He sat in a chair across the room and slept himself, but even just his presence made her feel safe.

When Catherine woke up Sam was no longer across the room. She got up and changed into new clothes before going to look for him.

When she exited her room she saw Sam siting at her table eating what looked like eggs. He smiled up at her when he saw her. "Morning"

"Good morning" She smiled walking toward the table. "I see you've made yourself at home?" She said looking down at his plate before sitting down across the table from him.

"Oh" he laughed a little. "Sorry, we're on the road a lot so it's been a while since I've had an actual home cooked meal. Just thought I'd make myself something before Dean and I headed off."

"It's okay. So is that really all you guys do? Just hop from one town to the next staying in sleazy motels and charading as FBI agents killing monsters?"

"Pretty much." Sam responded.

"Doesn't that get tiring?"

" I mean a little yeah. But that's the job."

"So why's it your job?"

"That's a longer story." Sam shook his head taking a drink of his orange juice.

"I'm all ears."

"Ok" he nodded. "Well long story short my mom was killed when I was a baby by a demon and ever since we've been hunting. We grew up in the life, there really wasn't any other option for us. It's all we've ever known."

"So you started out of revenge?"

"I guess yeah."

"And you never thought about doing anything else?"

"Well I went off to college for a bit" Sam paused sadly remembering Jessica.

"Where?" Catherine asked not reading his change in mood.

"Uh, Stanford."

"Oh wow, what'd you study?"

"Law."

"And why'd you leave?"

"Once a hunter, always a hunter."

There was a pause and Catherine spoke up again.

"I want to go with you guys."

Sam choked on his food. "You want to what?"

"You heard me. I want to become a hunter."

"Did you not just hear a word I said? How awful it is to be a hunter? It's crappy dinner food and uncomfortable motel beds and moldy showers and hours in a cramp smelly car." Sam's tone was getting angrier.

"No I heard exactly what you said. There are things out there that need to be stopped and innocent people that need to be saved."

"And there are people out there who are doing that. You still have a choice, you can still do something with your life."

"What life?" Catherine matched his volume. "My sister is dead, I was nearly killed by a girl I've known for 3 years."

"You could go to college. Be a forensic scientist like you said you wanted."

"How can I go on and pretend like everything's fine when I know people are dying out there and there is something I could do to stop it?"

"You can't stop it. You don't know how to stop these things, you nearly died last night."

"So you can teach me. You and Dean, take me with you, teach me everything you know. I"m a quick learner, I'm fast, I'm strong. You know I could do it."

"You could. But you shouldn't have to. You don't have to. You have a choice to do something better with your life. I'm not going to ruin it by introducing this new world of shit."

"You already introduced it. And what could I possibly do better in my life then save people's lives?"

"You're not-" Sam was cut off when Dean entered through the front door.

"Hey there kiddies." he greeted. He paused noticing the tension in the room. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No. The conversation is over." Sam said shooting an angry look at Catherine. Sam and Dean walked out to the Impala and Catherine followed. She thanked them both individually with a hug. She said goodbye to Dean first and he walked toward the car. She reached up to hug Sam.

"Thank you for saving my life. And just so you know, if you won't train me, I'll just train myself. You can't stop me Sam. I've made my choice."

Sam backed away from there hug and looked down at her. "You're making a huge mistake Catherine."

"And it's my mistake to make." She retaliated and he went to get into the car.

She watched them drive away and thought to herself. _This won't be the last time I see that Impala, you can count on that._

* * *

 **A/N:** To be continued... There is wayyyy more to this story I just thought I'd put out the beginning for you guys instead of making you wait for the entire story to be finished. Please comment, I love to hear what you guys have to say. Have fun reading the rest my lovelies.


	5. Chapter 5

**(** Just going to preface this chapter with a side note. The case they'er working on in this chapter is tracking a Wendigo, and their pronunciation of this word on the show has always made me so mad. They pronounce it When-D-go, and it should be pronounced WHEN-di-go. Emphasis on the wen and the di should be pronounced almost like did but without the second d. I know it doesn't actually matter but I had to say something, it bothers me so much. **)**

 **-2 YEARS LATER-**

"Who's this again?" Dean asked his brother before walking up to the front door.

"Mom of one of the boys who went missing." Sam said responded.

"And why is this our problem again? Don't you think we have bigger fish to fry at the moment then some missing kids?" Dean asked, getting increasingly annoyed.

"Because Bobby asked us to. He knows one of the boys families or something, but it doesn't matter. We promised we'd look into it, now stop complaining." Sam told his older brother off before knocking on the door cutting his brother off from any further conversation.

The door swung open to be greeted by a short over weight smiling late middle aged woman.

"Hello?" She greeted the two men confused.

"Hi, Mrs. Matthews?" Sam asked friendly.

"Yes, and who are you two?" She replied keeping her smiley demeanor.

"Park Services Rangers. We're here to ask you some questions about your sons disappearance." Dean cut in more straight and cold then Sam's approach.

"My my, first the State Trooper now you boys. The government really is pulling out all the stops to try and find our boys" She beamed. Sam and Dean both flashed an anxious look at the other at the mention of the state trooper. "Come on in." She urged them.

After getting comfortable in her home Sam began on the questioning. "So this State Trooper you mentioned, did he give you a name?"

"Stone, I believe her name was. Elizabeth Stone. She was a very nice young girl." She smiled over to the two men.

Sam and Dean looked to the other to see if the name meant anything to either of them but when they saw it didn't they continued on with their questioning.

"You think it's another hunter?" Dean asked as they exited toward the Impala.

"Name doesn't ring a bell." Sam replied, although it wasn't completely true. The name wasn't exactly unfamiliar, but he couldn't place it. He knew he'd heard it before though.

"Well obviously we aren't gonna know her by the name if she's working with an alias." Dean pointed out and Sam nodded. "So what're we thinking here?"

"Missing kids in the woods, Wendigo maybe?" Sam suggested.

"Yeah but other then woods is there anything else to make us think that?" Dean asked.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Sam asked.

Dean paused for a minute to think. "Whatever, lets just drive." he finally said frustrated, hitting the wheel before stepping on the gas.

* * *

"I swear Imma kill Bobby when we get out of here." Dean said angrily shaking mud off his boots. "Do we even know where we're going?"

"We're following the map Parker's mom gave us of where the boys went. If we just keep following it we should run into what ever they ran into at some point." Sam reasoned.

"We don't even know what they ran into, or if they ran into anything. Maybe they're just lost, or maybe they got eaten by a bear, or maybe, maybe their just being a bunch of dick head teens and they decided not to text their moms back on a week out with the boys."

"I don't think so. Eli's mom said they were all very good about checking in every day and they were all very much momma's boys. Also there aren't any bears in this part of the country." Sam finished his sentence like that last fact should be an obvious fact.

"Whatever, wolves then. Face it Sammy we have no idea where we're going or what we're dealing with." Dean announced frustrated.

"And that's why we brought everything. We've got fire, we've got salt, knives, blades, silver, stakes, guns. If something comes at us, we've got the stuff to kill it. Also wolf population isn't super immense either, it'd likely be a coyote before anything else."

Dean glared at his smart ass brother.

Suddenly there was a sound of rustled leaves and Sam and Dean looked around to see it's cause. They held their guns up and took in their surroundings. They gave each other a look that read ' _you go that way, I'll go this way's_. They walked in opposite directions watching the forest. Guns raised, locked and loaded read for whatever came at them. Sam held his gun at attention in front of him listening to his surroundings.

There was a cracking sound and a shadow raced through the trees. "WENDIGO" Dean yelled.

Sam ran forward toward a sound, but got hit by an equally fast paced forced and tumbled to the ground.

He rolled a couple feet on the ground attached to this other force before rolling to a stop. They settled and Sam felt his back against a log not in the ground and what felt like a person laying on top of him. He opened his eyes to auburn hair covering his face. The girl who at this point was startling his torso sat up so they could see each other's faces.

"Sam?" "Catherine?" They asked the other in unison.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her smiling. The circumstances weren't great, but he was still happy to see her.

"Hunting a Wendigo, what're you doing here?" she asked back.

"Apparently hunting a Wendigo." the leaves ruffled again and both their heads shot up in response. Catherine shot up off his chest and ran in Dean's direction toward the noise. Sam layed there for a minute processing everything before jumping up himself to join the action.

There was a gun shot and a few other noises then everything was quiet and Sam had caught up to Catherine and his brother.

"Now look what you did! It's gone!" She shouted angrily at Dean.

"At least it's not here trying to kill us." He shouted back. He paused for a second to register the girl before him. "Catherine?" he smiled at her, "How've you been?" He asked reaching forward to hug her.

She hugged him back then separated. "I'd be better if you hadn't chased off my hunt. I was tracking it back to it's layer."

"Are you out here alone?" He asked.

"Yes?" She responded rudely.

"What kind of an idiot comes out here alone?" His words were harsh but his tone and meaning was concerned. "Everyone knows, rule number one, you never hunt alone."

"The idiot that doesn't have anyone else to hunt with," She shot Sam a glare and he felt her words. "How'd you guys even hear about this? It wasn't in the papers." She asked.

"Bobby knows one of the boy's families. He asked us to check in. How'd you hear about it?" Sam asked, stepping over to join the conversation.

"Bobby and I must know similar people then. Parker, I used to babysit him when we were younger, before the Matthews moved all the way out here our families were close."

"So are you just a hunter now? Or is this a one and done, helping a friend?" Sam asked.

"I told you I was going to hunt, no thanks to you of course." She said bitterly.

"You've been doing this for two years? By yourself? You could've gotten killed." Sam reacted.

"I almost did, lot's of time. But I'm still here. I told you I could handle this. And whose fault is it that I'm alone huh?" Sam and Catherine were now facing each other completely ignoring Dean in their tense argument.

"Okayy then," Dean interrupted stepping between the two. "This seems tense and like a private moment for another time. Right now we need to worry about those boys. What can you tell us about the case?" Dean asked Catherine.

"Not much. All I knew was that the boys were missing. So I packed everything I might need and I came out. Even if I just found them eaten by a coyote, at least I could give their parents some closure. I came out here and as soon as I saw it was a Wendigo I began tracking it back to it's layer. Wendigo's usually keep their prey alive for a while, but they don't typically take multiple victims. So there's no saying what it's done to them. All I can do is hope it's saving them for later." She responded.

"So what was the plan here? Track it back to it's layer and do what exactly?" Dean asked.

"Torch the bitch." She answered grabbing a pocket torch out of her bag.

"And you were planning on doing all of this on your own?" Sam asked.

"Well it's not like I had any other options." She responded.

There was another moment of awkward tension and Dean stepped in.

"I think I saw it move that way. Wendigo's tend to like caves and I know that part of the forest has a few. Let's move out." He said starting to walk as a signal for the other two to follow.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I'm watching the episode Fan fiction, while I write fan fiction and it's great. I love the cover of Wayward son at the end of the episode. It's such a good episode.

* * *

Catherine led the way as Sam and Dean walked behind her through the woods.

"So what the hell was that all about?" Dean asked his brother.

"What do you mean?" Sam avoided the question, whispering his answer so that Catherine wouldn't hear the conversation.

"Well you're whispering, so I know you know what I mean." He joked.

"Ok, so you know how when we left I told you she said she was interested in learning about hunting?" Sam told his brother.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well, it was more like she told me she was hunting weather I liked it or not and wanted to come with us, but I told her I didn't think it was a good idea. I was hoping if she was on her own she'd let it go. I guess that wasn't the case."

"You let her go out alone?" Dean responded annoyed.

"I thought she'd lose interest. If she came with us there would have been no turning back." Sam defended.

"So dying on her own is better?"

Sam rolled his eyes in response. "Look, I underestimated her. Clearly she's way more determined than I thought. She's actually a pretty good hunter. Got all the way out here on her own didn't she."

Dean looked from his brother to the girl in front of them, then back to his brother. Sam was watching her with a look of, Dean didn't even know what.

"Oh would you cut it out."

"What?" Sam defended innocently.

"Just because she's not 18 anymore, doesn't mean it's not weird."

"Hey it's not like that." Sam responded

"Oh, it's not like that" Dean mocked. "Of course it's like that. You're weird around girls, and you've been weird around her since the first day we met her."

"I have not."

"Oh, shut up, you know you have."

"Ok, so I like her a little. She's nice, and we have a lot in common. There's nothing wrong with that." Sam admitted.

"So why is there nothing wrong with it when you lik her, but when I said she was hot two years ago I was creepy?" Dean asked.

"She's 20 now. It's not as weird as hen she was 18 and fresh out of high school. Also, She's only 4 years younger than me, dude, you're almost 30."  
"Hey, hey, we don't mention the t word. And I'm 2 year away. That's not almost." Dean responded defensively.

"Ok, you don't want to talk about your thing, I don't want to talk about my thing. How about we both just shut up for a bit." Sam said, before stepping up his pace a bit getting in front of Dean.

Catherine stopped. "I think this is it."

"What? The cave?" Sam asked.

"I don't see anything." Dean said.

"We're not just going to stand right in front of it asking to be eaten." She spoke back. "It's over there" She pointed to a cave entrance barely visible through the trees. "Now we need a plan."

"Ok, so we're assuming Eli and Parker are both in there still alive? " Sam said.

"And we're guessing the Wendigo is in there too, since the last time we saw, it was headed that direction." Dean said.

"Wait what did you just say?" Catherine asked him.

"The Wendigo, it's probably-"

"No, stop, yeah. Say that word again." she repeated.

"Probably?"

"No, before that."

"Wendigo?"

"Yeah." She laughed.

"What?" Sam asked.

"You say it too." she said to Sam.

"Wendigo?" he complied.

"Wendigo" She corrected.

"Wendigo." Sam spoke.

"Wendigo" she corrected again.

"Wendigo" Dean spoke again.

"WHEN-di-go" She emphasized the syllables in her pronunciation.

"Wen-D-go" Dean emphasized.

"WHEN-di-go." She corrected.

"WHEN-di-go?" Sam copied questioningly.

"Yeah. Why do you guys say it like that?" she laughed at the boys.

"Like what?" Dean asked.

"Wendigo" She mocked the brother's pronunciation of the word.

"Why do you say it that way?" Dean asked.

"Um, the right way?"

"Wait what?" Dean asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Because it is. Look up literally anything and it will tell you that's how you say it. Who told you it was Wendigo?"

"Our dad." Sam responded.

"And you never once noticed it was wrong?" she laughed.

"Oh, shut up. Doesn't matter how you say it, Wendigo is a Wendigo and bitch needs to get dead." Dean spoke.

"Ok, here's the plan. Dean and I go in first. We'll deal with the Wendigo, you go save the boys." Sam said, directing his last words to Catherine.

"Hold up, how come I'm in charge of the boys? This was my case first. You're the big one, why don't you get the boys, you could definitely carry both of them." She spoke defensively at Sam.

"Because Dean and I are more experienced and we've dealt with Wendigo's before. We don't need you getting hurt in there." Sam responded.

"I'm not a kid anymore Sam. I've been hunting for two years on my own perfectly fine. I can take care of myself. And I can certainly finish a case I started. If somebody's taking the background it's one of you guys." She argued.

"I know that you can take care of yourself, I'm not doubting that. But if anything happened to you." he paused. "Look, we're doing this, and that's that."

She stepped towards him with a look of anger and determination. "You don't tell me what to do Sam." She pointed a finger at him poking him in the chest. "You made it very clear a long time ago that you had no interest in that. So I'm going to tell you how it's gonna be. Dean and I are going to go in there, guns and matches blazing. And you, you're going to come in last and use you're giant behemoth body to get those boys out of there and to safety. You got me?" She finished angrily.

Sam looked like he was about to protest but Dean cut in "I hate to say it man but she's right. You have the best chance of getting those boys out safely. And I'm on death row as it is." he spoke.

Catherine made a face at his remark but decided it wasn't the time to ask.

Sam paused for a minute, frustrated, accepting his fate. He clenched his jaw. "I don't like this," he looked at the two of them. "But fine. Let's go in and do this."

They started towards the cave. Sam grabbed dean's shirt stopping him for a moment. "You watch out for her, anything happens to her." He paused. "Look, first sign of trouble and you bail. I'm not losing either of you, got me?"

"I know Sam." Dean responded.


	7. Chapter 7

They entered the cave. Dean and Catherine walked in first. Dean held a flare gun at attention toward the ground and Catherine had a blow torch and a flask full of gasoline ready to throw at anything that came near her. Sam followed behind, he had a flare gun holstered on his side as a precaution but his main priority was getting in and getting the boys out.

"Cat, you follow Sam. Keep an eye out for me, but make sure he's in and out smoothly." Dean whispered.

"Got it." She responded.

Dean headed straight and Catherine followed Sam as they turned a different direction, which looked to go deeper and probably held the boys. As they continued to walk deeper their surroundings got darker. Catherine grabbed at the trigger on the torch for some light, but Sam stopped her immediately.

"It'll hear you." Sam whispered.

"So what are we just going to be blind?" She whispered back.

"Your eyes will adjust. Just wait." He whispered back.

She rolled her eyes and continued to walk. He was right, after another minute of walking she could see again. _God why does he always have to be right?_ She thought. Another few minutes passed and the boys were visible at the end of the tunnel. Sam looked back to make eye contact with Catherine to assure she'd seen them too. They walked forward in silence until Eli finally saw them and began to squirm. Both of the boys were tied up, hands bound above their heads and gags covering their mouths. Parker woke up to his friends noise and they both began to squirm and call for help through their gags.

"Sssshhhh" Sam rushed forward with his hand to his lips to quiet the boys. He reached them and whispered, "It'll hear you."

At his words the boys understood and shut up. Once Sam had reached them he saw they weren't alone. Behind them were 2 more boys and a young girl tied up exactly the same, and a bunch of bones piling up as far as the eye could see. Which in all honesty wasn't very far in the darkness, but probably extended farther than they could see. Sam worked on getting the boys free and Catherine rushed to the girl before attending the other boys.

Sam cut Eli free first, he fell onto Sam at first but then he helped him find his footing. "Can you walk?" Sam whispered and he nodded. "Go help the others." Sam said handing him a knife, before he moved on to help Parker.

Catherine cut the girl down, she looked to be only about 10, and fell into her arms immediately. She was covered in cuts and bruises and too weak, she could barely keep her eyes open. Parker couldn't stand on his own, and neither could one of the other boys. Catherine carried the girl, the boy who could stand carried his brother, and Sam helped Eli carry Parker because Eli was too weak to carry him on his own. They walked slowly as a group. Catherine walked in front and Sam held the back, making sure all the kids were safe. They were nearing the edge of the tunnel when there was a crashing sound behind them in the direction Dean had gone. They whipped their heads around to look at it but all they could see was darkness.

"Dean" Sam spoke in response, his tone worried.

"You take the boys. Eli, you carry her" She said passing the girl to Eli, forcing Sam to carry Parker who was nearly as tall as him by himself. "I've got Dean." she said raising her torch and starting in the other direction.

"Wait you don't know wh-" Sam tried to warn.

"I've got it Sam. Now go!" She spoke back to him before running after another bang.

Sam moved with the boys as far as he could get out of the cave and into the forest. As soon as he thought they were far enough out he set them all down and went to work on placing runes in the dirt to keep the Wendigo away.

Catherine caught up to Dean who was in the middle of fighting off the Wendigo on his own. He was on the floor holding a shot gun over his chest to keep the Wendigo at bay, the Wendigo was sprawled on top of him pushing down on his gun with it's long arms.

"Hey!" She yelled to get it's attention. It reared it's head and she flinched. She'd never actually seen one before and it's face was horrifying. She only took a second of fear before she put her game face back on. It slowly got up off the floor before running toward her. She reached for her flask but it wasn't there. She must've dropped it at some point along the way. She rolled forward in a summer salt just as the monster swung to grab at her. She looked up to face it and blasted the torch in it's direction. She didn't hit it, but it was enough to make it flinch and step back.

"Dean flare." She yelled at him, noticing his leg was injured and he couldn't get up.

"Gone." He responded.

She rolled her eyes "Then what are we supposed to do? I can't fight this thing on my own. Not without a way to set the flames."

"You figure it out, that's what hunters do." he responded.

She took a deep breath and lunged forward toward the monster. She passed behind it and kicked at it's back sending it to the ground. She lunged forward with the torch trying to get it on the ground but it it moved away.

"It's too fast" she screamed. Before lunging out of it's way again.

Suddenly Sam came running up out of the darkness and grabbed the Wendigo pulling it back so it couldn't get away. "Cat, torch!" He grunted as the monster struggled in front of him.

She sprung up to her feet and set the torch to it's stomach. It began to scream and after a moment of the torch it went up in flames. It turned to ash and Sam ran forward to Catherine.

"Are you alright?" He said grabbing the sides of her arms and looking her up and down with worry.

"I'm fine, but Dean could use some help." She responded.

He let her go and rushed to Dean. "Can you walk?"

"No. Where are the boys?"

"Outside. We found a few more too." Sam responded.

They helped Dean to his feet and walked him out of the cave, resting an arm over Sam and Catherine's shoulders to stand him up.

Hours later, they were boarding the kids onto a rescue helicopter. Dean's leg had started to recover and they made their way out before the cops arrived and could ask any questions. Dean was walking ahead of them using a stick to trek through the woods for balance, mumbling to himself about how much he hated the woods.

"You were great back there" Sam said to her as they walked.

"I told you I could take care of myself." She joked. He nodded and laughed along with her. "Seriously though, thank you. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Hey, dean and I couldn't have gotten those boys in and out on our own either."

"You're such a sap." She said lightly leaning toward him to shove him with her shoulder. "So, where you guys headed next?"

"Not sure." He responded. "We have some-" he paused, "uh- stuff to deal with."

"Why do you always say that? Why's it always stuff, or a long story?" She asked.

"Because that's my life. Everything about what we do is complicated and a long story."

"It's not though, at least it isn't for me and it didn't used to be for you. It's just a case after another, it's saving people and kicking ass. What's complicated about that?"

He laughed lightly. "I wish that's all it was anymore. It used to be just that simple, but- it's just so much more now."

"So tell me about it. Make it less complicated." she encouraged him.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." He said lightly laughing at her.

She stopped walking for a minute and grabbed his arm turning him to look at her. Her face was serious and she looked him straight in the eyes. "Trust me, I do."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other. "You really wanna know?"

"Sam, you know you can always talk to me."

"Ok, where to start. We found the demon that killed my mom. He's dead." He started talking as they began walking again. "So's my dad. And Dean almost died, then I did die and now Dean's going to hell because he couldn't just let me go. Oh, yeah, and did I mention I'm psychic."

She was silent for a moment to process everything he said. "Ok, well that was a lot. So I'm just going to respond in order. Congratulations on finally getting revenge on your mom" she paused, "and Jess. And I am so so sorry about your dad. I know that must be hard for you, especially since the last time we met you were torn up about him and you were just looking for him. I'm happy that Dean didn't die, and you're going to need to explain the you dying some more later. That idiot seriously made a deal? And what the hell do you mean psychic?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

They continued to walk as Sam talked and explained and Catherine listened to him. Even though this was only the second time they'd met they had a bond. They understood one another. Something about her made Sam feel at ease. He knew he could talk to her about anything and somehow she'd understand. It felt good getting all these things off his chest. He couldn't talk to Dean about it, at least not really, not about how he really felt. Catherine didn't judge him the way Dean did when he spoke about his powers.

Finally they got to the edge of the woods where the Impala was parked.

"Think you boys could give me a ride." she asked.

"Our pleasure." Dean responded walking toward the drivers side of the car.

"Uh uh uh" Sam said putting a hand against Dean pressing him back. "I'm driving, you'r leg needs to rest." Dean tried to protest but knew he wouldn't get anywhere.

They drove along the rode to a separate pullout about 4 miles away where Catherine had parked her bike.

"You know, you could come with us." Dean offered. "It's not safe out there on your own."

She paused for a second and looked at the brothers warmly. "You have no idea how great that sounds." Sam began to smile at her. "But I can't. I need to figure this stuff out on my own. Plus if your guy's lives are half as messed up as Sam described them to be I think I'd better steer clear. Keep it to the basics." She said the last two sentences lightly joking with the brothers.

"Fair enough," Dean responded lightly.

She got up out of the car and leaned onto Dean's open window. "Good luck out there, I hope everything works out for you." She said to him leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

She walked across to the drivers side, she went to bend to his window but he opened the door and got out. "So where do you think you'll go next?"

"I don't know, heard about a vamp nest down in Burlington, thought I might check it out." She replied.

He nodded then reached out and hugged her tight. "You keep yourself safe out there you hear me?" He spoke into the top of her head.

"I will." she replied looking up at him. "And right back at you ok? You need something and you call me right away, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." He chuckled.

They let go of each other and she reached up to peck him on the cheek. She walked over and sat down on her motorcycle placing her helmet securely on her head before turning to face the Impala. "Don't be strangers, you hear me!" She yelled at the brothers before pressing the gas and speeding away.

Sam and Dean waved after her before driving off in the opposite direction.

 **A/N: Hey guys, back for a second installment. We're no where near done so just keep your eye out. And don't forget to comment and tell me what you think. Things you like, things you don't like, things you want to see me work in. I want to hear it all.**


	8. Chapter 8

**(** In this I mention Catherine having an Iphone, and I know the boys didn't have Iphones yet at this point in the series, but I looked it up and the Iphone 3g was available in 2008. So it wasn't as advanced as phones are now and definitely doesn't have as much as they do now, but they had basics enough for what I talk about. **)**

 **\- 10 Months Later -**

Catherine grabbed her hand as her knife fell to the floor.

"Sorry" She looked up at the woman in front of her. "I'm such a klutz."

She reached down to pick the knife up off the floor before starting back up again chopping fruit at the counter with a different knife.

"It's alright. Just make sure you wash it before you use it again." Catherine nodded before her boss walked away.

That night after she clocked out at the bar she began to walk back to her motel. She looked down at her phone, still no mention from Sam or Dean. It'd been 3 months since the last time she'd heard from either of them and she was getting worried. After the Wendigo case they had made a good routine of checking in and helping each other.

She opened up a news app to see if there were any cases near by. Suddenly she heard a whistling sound from behind her in the alley. She rolled her eyes. _Was this seriously happening to her right now._ "Walk away." She voiced while still walking forward not even giving a second look back.

"Oh come on, give us a show princess." The man hollered.

"You really don't want to do this" her voice was still unfazed by the man. She turned her head slightly at the last word only to find that the man was much closer then she'd thought.

He grabbed her by the arms and spun her around. "Oh I really think I do sweetie." He leaned down.

"I warned you" she spoke evenly before bolting her head forward and head budding him. The jolt sent him flying backwards. She walked over to him punched him across the face and twisted his arm back landing him on the ground arm extended in the air. "Shoulda walked away" She said looking down at him stepping her foot on the center of his back. She twisted his arm a little farther then stopped when she heard a pop. He screamed and she let go and began to walk away.

"You bitch!" he screamed his face still on the pavement.

"It's just dislocated. It'll pop back-" she paused and turned back to him for a minute "princess" she said mockingly before turning and continuing to her motel.

Once she got to her room she took off her boots and the rest of her clothes and slipped into a large blue over sized flannel. She smelt it's sleeve and laid down on her bed. Before drifting off to sleep she found a case in Colorado and decided she'd head out in the morning.

That night she dreamt of the first time she met the Winchesters. How Sam had forgotten his flannel at her house, but this time in her dream, she went with them. And somehow Beth was still alive. She dreamed that the four of them hit the road together.

She woke up suddenly in a sweat with tears in her eyes. Remembering Beth still made her cry.

She packed up the few things she had and headed to the bar.

"Hey is Erica here?" she asked a man behind the counter.

"Yeah in the back" He replied still cleaning a glass.

"Thanks Dan." She responded then walked toward the back office.

"Amy hey!" the woman said as she entered the room. Catherine smiled in response to her alias.

"Erica hey, I need the money for my final 'check'." she spoke.

Her boss's smile fell. "Leaving so soon?"

"I told you, in and out, I've already been here two weeks, which is longer then I'd thought I'd be."

"What are you running from sweety? What is so bad out there that you need to move town to town, get paid in cash under the table, and use fake names." Catherine made a face at the mention of her alias. "Yeah I know your name isn't Amy. I don't know what it is, but it's not that."

"I'm not running from anything." she replied with a smile.

"Honey you can tell me, I know people we can keep you safe."

"I'm not running from anything. I'm running to something. I love what I do and I'm happy with my life. And if that means taking some odd under the table jobs, that's what it means." She smiled at the older woman. "Thank you, really. I appreciate it, and all you've done for me. But I have somewhere else I need to be, so I need my money and I need to go."

"Alright." she finally agreed and stepped up handing her a pile of cash, then hugged her. "But you call if you need anything."

"You got it" she responded as they released each other.

She walked out of the car and sat down on her motorcycle counting her bills as she went. _Only $500, it's not a lot but it'll have to do._ she thought.

* * *

By the time she reached Burlington it was 2 o'clock in the morning. She'd do some quick research before heading to bed for her full 4 hours. The next morning she changed out of 'her' large flannel and into a power suit to get to work.

She approached the crime scene. It was swarming with police and guarded by yellow tape on all sides. "Agent Chamberlain" she spoke to a police officer standing guard, flashing her badge.

"Yeah your partners over there" she mused uninterested.

She cocked her head in confusion, then walked forward. Hopefully it was another hunter, because she really didn't want to deal with having to answer to the actual feds. She continued down the alley to look at the mutilated body on the street. It looked like a straight forward werewolf attack but currently her only priority was finding this "partner" of hers.

She turned to one of the officers standing over the body. "Hi, Agent Chamberlain. Could you point me to where my partner is?"

"Chief Grant," he reached out to shake her hand. "He's interviewing the witness over there" he pointed.

"Thank you" she greeted before walking where he'd pointed. She walked down the alley before she saw the pair. A tall man with shaggy hair wore a suit and was speaking to a younger boy who was seated in a wool blanket obviously given to him by the police. As she got closer she began to put the pieces together. She waited for a moment for the man to finish his conversation. The boy got up and walked away and she made her move when they were alone.

"Now what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" She mused loudly so he could hear her from behind. He turned around to face the voice confused and she ran toward him.

He smiled and held his arms out to her "Catherine!" he spoke excitedly.

She jumped into his arms hugging him back. "Sam!" she squealed as he spun her in a circle in their embrace.

He set her down, they released but still kept their arms linked by their forearms keeping contact with the other and looked admirably into the others eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked still excited

"I could ask you the same thing!" she matched his tone. "And where's Dean anyway?" At the mention of his name Sam's face dropped. He let her go and stepped back a bit. She saw his reaction instantly and looked at him with concern. "What is it?"

"Dean- uh-" he choked a bit. "He's gone." His eyes never looked up from the pavement.

"What do you mean gone?" She asked.

"I mean gone gone." He spoke softly.

She waited for a minute to process what he'd said. She remembered their conversation about Dean's deal, _had it really been a year and he hadn't told her. They hadn't asked for her help? How could they!? Dean was gone, she hadn't said good bye. She hadn't been there for Sam when he needed her._ She was filled with anger for a moment at his neglect to tell her. Then she realized how selfish that was. Sam had lost his brother, and here she was mad that he hadn't thought of her. This wasn't about her.

"Oh Sam, I'm so sorry." She said sympathetically before embracing him again. This hug was different then any other time they'd been close. Before when they'd hugged it was him embracing her. He would wrap her up in his giant arms and she felt protected and safe. Bu this time it was different. This time she held him. She held him and for a split second he was able to be vulnerable. She held his head close to her shoulder and just held him. She felt him shake like he was trying not to cry and she shushed him. She held on to him like a mother holds her child, protecting it from the rest of the world. He bent down to be closer to her as they embraced each other. They stayed this way for what felt like forever, only separating when they heard a cough from a different part of the alley.

"Am I interrupting something?" The chief spoke.

They separated and coughed awkwardly. "No, uhm, we'll be right out." Sam responded.

The chief walked out and they looked back at each other.

"Thank you" He smiled down at her.

"You know I'm always here for you Sam" She spoke seriously. They looked at each other for another moment and she broke the silence. "We better go. You know do our federal duty" She joked and he nodded in agreement as they walked back toward the crime scene.


	9. Chapter 9

After speaking to the local police they went over to the victims work. They took what was now Sam's Impala she'd assumed and headed off. Getting in the Impala made her sad for a moment. She looked in the back seat, where she'd woken up after that night with Nicole, and where she'd sat when they drove her to her bike after the Wendigo defeat. Everything about this car was Dean. The very essence of it. She held back a tear then laughed when she looked forward seeing the new installation that must've been Sam's doing.

"What?" Sam asked.

"That new?" She asked pointing to the Ipod hookup on the front dash.

"Yeah?" He answered questioningly.

"You know Dean would kill you if he saw that right?"

He laughed at her words remembering his brother fondly. "Yeah he would." He responded lightly.

They arrived at the victims office and questioned his coworkers. They all said the same thing, he was nice, but quiet and didn't have any friends, everyone liked him, but not enough to actually talk to him.

"Well this was a bust. No family, no real personal life, no work life." Catherine spoke to Sam in private.

"Yeah, seems like he just came in did his job and left, no grudges, but also not noticeable at all."

"So he was actually a no one. Wow, that's really sad." Catherine responded. She liked that they were finishing each other's sentences.

"Here, you go question the higher ups, see if there was any change in his activity lately. I'm going to check his computer, see if I can get anything off of that" Sam spoke. She nodded and they headed off in different directions.

He checked the desktop for any conversations, messages, or private chats that might give them a lead but there was nothing. Guy didn't even have any emails. At least non from subscriptions or friends, only emails he had were work emails, and there were all pretty bland. Just questions about reports and progress and development things like that. Except one recent unopened email from a M. Spier requesting a meeting with him schedule for today at 3.

Catherine entered the room and looked at Sam.

"Find anything?" He asked.

"Nope." she said frustrated crashing down on a chair opposite the desk. "Same as everything else. He was good at his job. Not outstanding but not bad. Just like everything else in this man's life he was extremely mediocre." She sighed, "Oh, I did get one thing," she perked up a bit sitting up in the chair. "Apparently he wasn't doing too good at his job, because apparently he was going to get fired today. Man this guy's life was depressing." She spoke.

"That must be what this meeting in the email was about." Sam replied turning the computer monitor around for her to read.

"M. Spier, yeah that's the guy I talked to. Real mousy looking dude. Said he was really stressed out about having to fire him." She paused thinking nothing of this information. "Find anything on his computer?" She asked.

"Nope. He was as boring online as he was in person." Sam spoke standing up from the desk. "Let's get out of here. We aren't learning anything new."

They left and headed back to Catherine's motel. Sam had just gotten into town that morning and hadn't checked in any where yet so they decided it would be best to share a room. They had researched him and the town for hours finding a total of nothing.

"Well, the wolf reacts to the person's urges. So whoever it is probably knew the vic and probably had beef with him." Catherine spoke to Sam as she paced the room and he sat on a motel bed with his laptop.

After hours of reserach and looking into his family life, which shocker, turned out he dint have one it was nearly 2 in the morning and Catherine was ready to pass out on the spot.

She crashed down on her bed parallel to his. "I'm beat. This case doesn't make any sense. Guy didn't have any close friends. But he also didn't have any enemies. All around likable guy, just not likable enough to be close with. He was a nobody. And there haven't been any other attacks. Maybe this was just an animal attack." She offered the last suggestion turning her head to look at him.

"Normally I'd consider it, but that was no animal. That man was torn apart." Sam responded looking over at her. He was going to say something else but when he looked into her eyes which were barely open against the bed he knew if was time to call it a night. "Doesn't matter, we'll check it out some more tomorrow." He said closing his laptop. "We better get to sleep, I'll go change in the bathroom, you can have out here, just holler when you're done and I can come out." He said standing up and grabbing a wad of clothes and heading toward the bathroom.

She nodded sleepily then sat up once the door was closed. She walked over to the drawer she had put her clothing in and institutionally grabbed her flannel that she usually slept in then thought the better of it and let go. She didn't need Sam knowing that 3 years later she still slept in a big flannel he had left at her house. She didn't even know why she slept init, something about it just made her feel safe. She stored the shirt back in the drawer, opting for a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.

"You can come out." she spoke loudly as she made her way back over to her bed and got situated under the cheap thin motel covers.

He stepped out of the bathroom in a pair of large dark blue pajama pants and nothing else. He walked shirtless across the room to his bed and her eyes bulged. She couldn't look away from him, her mouth hung open ever so slightly as she was amazed by the sight in front of her. You couldn't tell under all those layers of flannel but he was huge. His height had always made him appear lanky but this definitely was not the case. She only got a glimpse of his front for a moment before he walked by but there was definitely a defined V line and some nice solid abs. His back muscles rippled and his shoulders were absolutely massive, along with his arms. It took everything she had to look away before he noticed she was staring. He sat down under the covers on his bed so that only the upper part of his torso was showing. _Why did he have to come out shirtless!?_ she thought. _This isn't fair._

He looked over at her and she was staring at her lap. "Well, goodnight. He said reaching over to turn off the lamp in between their beds."

"Goodnight." She replied sheepishly before turning on her side in the opposite direction of him.

* * *

The next morning they both got up early and headed to a diner connected to the motel for some breakfast before heading out.

"Ok, so before we even go back to the room and change into our 'FBI suits' or whatever we're dressing up as today we should have a plan for the day." Catherine spoke across the table taking a sip of her coffee.

Sam nodded. "Ok, so what're we looking at. We already talked to his coworkers, nothing there. We checked, he doesn't have any family or friends." Sam stopped listing things for a moment to think, "Where do we even go from there" Sam responded in confusion.

"Exactly." Catherine responded. "And last night was another full moon and as far as I can see no body turned up."

"So we're at a bust." Sam asked.

Catherine paused wanting to have a different answer, "I guess."

They paused for a moment awkwardly in silence. This had never happened to either of them before. It was obviously a werewolf. There was nothing else it could have been. But there were no leads in his personal life, which meant it had to just me a random attack. But with no other body they had no way of narrowing down who it could be. At this point it could be any one in the whole city, and they had no way of finding out who.

"How about me just go back to the crime scene and check out any surrounding areas. See if we find anything." Sam suggested.

"Sounds good." She agreed, seeing as how it was at least something.

They spent the rest of their short breakfast just talking. Talking about nothing, but everything. They didn't mention Dean or hunting, they just had what any bystander would consider a completely normal conversation. Dull, but normal. And they liked it dull. They talked about television and music, but most of all they talked about books they had and hadn't read and gave the other suggestions on what they should look into next. Yes some of them were hunting or lore books, but some were completely normal books any civilian would read. Catherine and Sam both thought to themselves the same thing, how neither of them had felt this content, in just being, in over three years. For Catherine she thought, _not since she'd started hunting_ , and for Sam he thought, _not since Jess_.

When they finally started on the road it was nearing 9 am. They had decided to just wear their regular clothes they had on, but brought their fed suits just in case. For Sam this meant he was dressed in his usual jeans, t-shirt, flannel, and jacket even though it was the middle of the summer and she knew it had to be sweltering under all those layers, and for Catherine she was wearing a pair of shorts and a printed NASA t-shirt with a flannel tied around her waist. She didn't care that flannel seemed to be a Winchester/ hunter trade mark and she was following the strange tradition. She had worn flannels for years before she was a hunter and she'd wear them for years after. She was from South Dakota after all, and they loved them a hick in flannel.

They drove for a bit along a wooded road that led into the city where the body had been found. That was something that Catherine had always loved about places like this, how you could be completely submerged in nature one moment then in the center of a bustling city the next. As they drove the song 'Livin on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi played over the car speaker. They each nodded along to the tune and smiled as the classic rock song reminded them both faintly of Dean, although neither said it.

As they drove Catherine noticed something odd and motioned for Sam to pull over. There was a car pulled off to the side of the road, but no one was inside, and there was a trail of blood leading from the center of the road into the woods. They got out and walked carefully into the woods. They each grabbed for their guns which were stored on their person at all times. They walked slowly, because they din't know what they were getting into or what could be out there. But when they hadn't heard a noise for several minutes they figured they were in the clear and walked forward as normal.

After a few minutes of walking they found the source of blood and the driver of the car. A woman was crouching over a deer that had been ripped to shreds and it's heart missing. They both raised their guns to her and she turned around at the sound of their foot steps.

Her hands flew up into the air in surrender and she cried "It wasn't me I swear."

At her words Catherine dropped her weapon. Sam lowered his more cautiously then Catherine, not trusting the woman completely on her word.

"I'm agent Chamberlain, and this is my partner agent Rhodes. We're not here to hurt you, we just need to ask you some questions." Catherine said softly approaching the woman gently.

She looked back at the pair in confusion. "What kind of agents wear clothes like that?" She asked mainly looking at Catherine.

Catherine looked offended for a moment then realized it wasn't the time. "Day off." She replied kindly.

"I swear I didn't touch it" The woman spoke. "I was just driving and I saw the blood line. I thought maybe an animal had gotten hurt and needed help, or feared maybe it was a person. But it was already like this when I found it. I was debating what to do next when you got here. I didn't feel right just leaving it here, but I didn't think a dead deer was a police matter." She spoke fast bu they took in every word she said.

Catherine told the woman they'd see it got taken care of and excused her to go. She ran off to her car and they were left alone with the animal.

"That's definitely from last night." Sam spoke examining the wounds to the animal.

"Yeah, it's already started decomposing and you can see scavengers have already found parts of it." She agreed.

"So maybe Michael really was just a random attack. " Sam suggested. "Wolf usually goes to the woods for hunting, but ran out of time and killed the first guy it ran into."

"Maybe," She agreed, but something about it felt off. Even though they had no reason to believe he was anything other than an accident Catherine felt something about him. She didn't think he was just another random attack. Something about him just felt different.


	10. Chapter 10

Even though Sam was sure it'd just been an accidental case they went back to the crime scene and proceeded with their plan, for Catherine's benefit. Sam didn't agree that there was anything different about him, but if Catherine felt so strongly about it, he thought they may as well give it a try.

They approached the alley where the body had been found and saw a small man kneeling on the ground outside the yellow tape. They approached him but he yelped in surprise when they'd finally met him. He turned to see the pair. Catherine recognized him immediately, it was the mousy man from the office.

"Mr. Spier" She spoke fake kindly. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

He squeaked in fear as he looked over at Sam who towered over him. "Just,- paying my respects." He offered sadly. "Michael had always been a nice guy. We'll miss him."

"Weren't you going to fire him?" Sam asked.

His eye shot up to meet Sam's and they began to redden with tears once again. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we wanted him dead. Firing is very different from killing someone agent." He responded harshly and sadly.

Sam's face fell. That's really not how he had meant it. "Yes of course, my apologies sir. I'm sorry for your loss." He tried to condole the man.

"I better get going," He replied looking between them nervously. "I'm going to be late for work."

They looked at him confused. "I thought the office was closed on Saturday's" Catherine asked him.

He froze. "Uhm- ah- yes. Well, I have other things that need to be done, you know. Shopping and errands, and.. things." He stumbled over his words.

Catherine was about to question him further, he obviously knew something, but Sam interrupted stepping in front of her to shake the man's hand. "Ok, well it was nice to see you again sir. Best of luck." He greeted. The man shook his hand warily then hurried off.

"What was that about?" Cat asked him. "He knew something." She whisper yelled at him, as he was still close enough to hear them.

"Yeah and if we let him know we knew that he'd freak and try to loose us. Now we can follow him. See what he does." Sam pointed out.

She tilted her head to the side in thought. He was right. She knew he was right. She hated that he was always right. But she couldn't let him know he was right. She was way too stubborn for that. She rolled her eyes before meeting his again. "Fine. What's the game plan." She spoke.

"We tail him. See what we find."

"He knows the car though." She pointed out the very noticeable Impala.

"So take your bike. I'll work on other stuff, see if we have any other leads. Call me if you find anything and I'll do the same." He gave the order and she nodded.

"Ok, I'm parked just up the road here. I left it here yesterday when I went with you. I can walk from here."

"OK, remember text or call, first sign of trouble you here me?" He looked at her seriously.

"Yeah, I got you. Now get out of here." She spoke casually turning toward her bike and walking away as she spoke.

She strolled up to her bike and sat atop it. She took a moment to take it in, it'd only been a day and she missed it like crazy. She had never liked motorcycles when she was younger but when she decided to go out to hunt it seemed the most practical. She didn't have the money to buy a car and she didn't intend on stealing anything. Growing up in South Dakota near Sturgis with the motorcycle rally happening every year she had grown quit accustomed to the machines in her youth and when the time came she knew exactly where to go to get a cheap one. Especially as a young attractive female, it was basically free. She had a large _ and it was like her baby. Bikes just made more sense to her. Didn't have to deal with the clutter or space that a car took up, it was faster, and easier to travel by herself, and didn't take nearly as much as gas as a car needed. She waited, she could still see Spier walking in the distance and she didn't want to draw attention by getting too close.

After another few minutes she saw him get in a car at the very end of the street. She put on her helmet and rode slowly down the street. She followed him for hours. Never getting too close but watching everything he did. She followed the three behind two over rule for a majority of the streets and always parked at the opposite end of a parking lot, so that she could see him, but he wouldn't see her. He hadn't lied about where he was going, he stopped in at his office then went to multiple grocery stores. Nothing noteworthy though.

After the third hour she was about to call Sam and say there was nothing here, but she decided to follow him to one last location. He was driving deep into the woods. There were lots of twists and turns so she didn't have eyes on him the entire time but it was a one lane road, there wasn't anywhere else he could be. Eventually she saw his car parked beside of the road, empty. She stopped, a distance back and pulled out her phone. She dialed Sam and waited for it to stop ringing.

"Hello?" Sam spoke over the phone.

"Sam, hey, I think I got something. I'm in the woods, about a mile or two passed marker 83. His cars empty, I was about to go walk out see if I could find him." She spoke.

"Wait, the cars empty?" Sam asked alarmed.

"Yeah? Why?"

"Cat get out of there now?" He spoke hurriedly.

"Sam, I'm sure it's fine, and if it's not I can take care of myself. I'll check it out and get back to you. Just thought I'd let you know where I was." She spoke annoyed. _Why was he always babying her? She had been hunting on her own for two years. She'd proved herself more then once._

"Cat, you don't know where he is. This isn't safe. I'll meet you in a bit, but get out of there till I meet you okay?" He waited for her reply but it didn't come. "Cat?" silence, "Catherine?" He shouted through the phone. "Shit." His voice spoke across the phone to himself before hanging up on the empty line.

15 minutes later Sam pulled up next to her bike which had fallen onto the road sideways and was laid a bit back from the other man's car. He looked for tracks and started through the woods.

Catherine woke up leaned against a tree. Her head spinning. Her eyes opened lazily to Spier across from her sitting on a log shaking back and forth. He looked over at her and whined a bit to myself. He got up and started toward her.

"Why'd you have to follow me huh? Why'd you have to press it." He was shaking as he spoke.

"What?" She answered groggily. She was definitely concussed.

"I didn't want to do this. You see how you're making me do this don't you?" His tone was everywhere in between anxiety, fear, and anger.

Suddenly her situation snapped into focus and she was able to concentrate. "No you don't though. I know what happened to Michael wasn't your fault. So you can just let me go, you see." She tried to persuade him.

"I know it wasn't my fault. It was his fault. Just like this is your fault now. It's too much. Too much stress. I just need it to go away. And when I go to sleep I make it go away. I help myself you see." He was shaking his hands beside his head when he spoke. It looked like he was having a mental break down.

She couldn't believe her ears. "You killed Michael because it was stressing you out that you had to fire him?" She asked incredulously.

"It was his fault. He upset it. And you upset it, and now it's going to make everything better. Because the moon is coming out soon, and I'll go to sleep and when I wake up, it'll all be better."

"Please. You don't have to do this." She pleaded, but got nowhere. Struggling against the robe he'd bound her to the tree with.

"SAM!" She shrieked through the woods. at this point he was her last hope. _Why did he always have to be right!?_ she thought frustratedly as she struggled.

The moon began to ascend and he smiled at her, "You'll see, it'll fix everything. I'm sorry you made me do this. I truly am." Then he began to change. His nails grew long and his teeth grew fangs, his eyes turned a bright yellowish green and he ran forward at her. She screamed and flinched backward bracing herself for the pain of claws against her skin but it never came. Instead there was a loud bang and a thud and she opened her eyes to see Sam standing 5 feet away with a gun held out. When they made eye contact her put the gun aside and rushed toward her to cut the ropes. When she was freed she wrapped her arms around him and breathed heavily.

He held her against his chest and she just breathed, calming down. "That was close" She spoke, her tone was still in a bit of shock.

"It's okay," Sam spoke brushing some of her hair aside. "You're fine." He spoke the last words and she felt they were mainly or himself to hear but then she felt him press a light kiss against her forehead as he continued to rub her back as he calmed her in his arms.

A few minutes later she was breathing okay and they had started back toward the road.

"Took you long enough." She joked leaning into him, shoving him playfully with her shoulder.

"Oh, well, you, I though you were taking care of it." He joked back mocking her throwing her earlier words back at her.

"Oh shut up." She smiled. "Seriously, thank you though. Once again, I wouldn't be here without you." She spoke these words seriously then changed her tone again. "You gotta stop saving my life. It's becoming a real problem." They both laughed and continued walking.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Catherine woke up to a rusting sound on the other side of the room. She turned over in her bed and opened her eyes slightly. She grimaced at the sudden input of light but her eyes quickly adjusted. She saw a tall figure, Sam, standing bent over a chair with his foot up tying a shoe.

She looked at him confused. "What are you doing?" She spoke with a groggy tone.

"I was about to go for a run." He responded normally.

She furrowed her brow in tired confusion and grabbed at the clock beside her bed. "It's 4 o'clock in the morning?"

"Yeah?" He spoke as if this didn't mean anything.

"It's the ass crack of dawn. No it's before the ass crack of dawn. Dawn isn't for another hour."

He laughed slightly at her, "I like to get a good start on the day."

"Dude, we weren't even back to the room until 1. Did you even sleep?" She asked. Still not entirely awake.

"A bit." he responded.

"No. You're not doing this. Go back to sleep." She told him and he looked at her confused. "You need sleep."

"I got some sleep. I'm fine."

"You're not. And you're going back to sleep. No one should be awake right now. It's unnatural, let alone be up and exercising." He tried to protest but she cut him off. "Sleep. Now. We'll talk at 6, in two hours when it's okay to be alive. And then, we can go for a run together. Because I actually would enjoy a run as well. But not right now." She spoke the last words fighting off a yawn.

He stood there for a moment obviously debating on whether or not it was a good idea to argue with her right now. He thought better of it and began to unlace his tennis shoes before laying back down on the too small motel bed.

"Thank you, now stop being fucking crazy and go to sleep." She mumbled, turning back over to close her eyes again.

"He watched the back of her head in admiration and incredulity. He laughed a little, he would never understand her. Sometimes she was quiet and sweet and you would never know she could hurt a fly, and other she would do things like this. She liked to boss people around, and he was surprised to find he didn't mind being bossed around by her. "Yes ma'am." He responded before shutting his eyes as well.

Two hours later Catherine was up and changing into shorts and a tank top to run in. After tying her shoes and putting her hair up into a high pony and looked over at the still sleeping giant in the room. She laughed. He was ridiculous. She walked over to his bed and poked his shoulder harshly

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty" She called laughing turning to walk to the other side of the room.

But within seconds she felt a hand grab her arm roughly and she turned to see Sam grabbing her, he had darted up and his face was a mixture of worry and fear. He breathed harshly and looked around. After another moment, he realized where he was and released her.

"Sorry" He said looking down wiping a hand over his face.

"Are you okay?" She finally spoke?

"Yeah, yeah.. fine." He said in an unconvincing voice. She didn't take her eyes off him, worry wrinkling her face. "Really, I'm okay. Don't worry about it. Bad dream." He assured, and she dropped it.

She did not believe for a second that it was nothing, but she knew he wouldn't want to speak about it right now.

"Ready for that run?" She spoke hesitantly from the other side of the room a few awkward minutes later.

He looked confused for a second then realization crossed his face, "Oh, yeah." He agreed then stood up from his bed and tied his shoes. "Ready."

He looked over to her expectantly and she took an awkward moment to actually turn. She was still a bit shaken from him grabbing her. She was sure it would bruise, she knew he didn't mean to, but he was strong enough that even half that pressure would've hurt.

They set out and started to jog down the road.

They started out slow, each not wanting to out pace the other, but the farther they went the more they could see the other's endurance. What had started out as a jog ended up a full run. After jogging around the block a couple of times, their speed steadily increasing, Catherine tapped him on the shoulder.

"Care to make it interesting?"

"What'd you have in mind?" Sam replied as they continued to run along side the other, not breaking a sweat.

"You see that giant tree up there?" She pointed to a large oak about a mile away at the edge of the woods.

"Yeah?"

"Run all the way to that, and back to the motel. First one in the room wins. Loser buys breakfast."

"You're on. He replied."

"Ok, then.." Catherine waited till she was a couple steps ahead of him, "GO!" She yelled and sprinted forward in front of him.

"Hey!" Sam called after her.

Sam caught up to her in no time.

"No fair you have longer strides." She laughed shoving him to the side.

"You're the one that asked for a race." he laughed turning back to her as he raced a few feet ahead.

"That's right I did." Catherine sprinted forward a bit so they were even again.

They stayed primarily running side by side, laughing and shoving each other. Neither stepping down from a good competition. Catherine reached the tree first, Sam only seconds behind her. Ten minutes later Sam reached the door to their room, he reached his hand into his pocket for the room key but it was gone. Catherine ran up behind him so fast she shoved him several feet away from the door. She quickly pulled the card from her pocket and whipped the door open. She moved to run into the room but Sam grabbed her by the waist pulling her backwards into the air. Catherine struggled pushing him back placing a foot into the room before she was back in the air again. They struggled against each other laughing, Sam carried her into the room. After a minute of tussling they both collapsed on to Sam's bed laughing.

After laughing for what felt like forever they finally caught their breath.

"Nice stunt, but I beat you to the room." He laughed. "Also when did you take my key?" He stared up at the ceiling as he spoke.

"You gotta pay better attention my man, especially to that bit I put in about the rules. First one in the room, not to it." She looked over at him and smiled.

"So you cheated?" Sam joked looking down at her beside him on the bed.

"I took advantage of my resources" she corrected.

"So where sounds good to you? I mean, I was thinking pancakes, but you're paying so it's up to you." She said snarkily still trying to catch her breath.

"No, we entered the room at the same time. We tied."

"No, my foot hit the floor while you were still outside. Meaning I came in first, meaning I won, meaning you lost, meaning where are my pancakes?" She joked hitting him lightly on the chest with the back of her hand.

"You know that's a technicality."

"A technicality in which I win" She smiled.

They continued to laugh and catch their breath beside each other on the bed, Catherine's hand still layed on top of his chest.

Catherine could have layed like this forever, so could Sam. It was nice to just lay there in peace, a warm body beside you, someone to laugh with.

 **A/N:** I realize this was kind of a pwp chapter. But I feel like it's important when writing a story and trying to develop a relationship to show these moments, where there isn't a problem. When they aren't fighting something, or someone, or each other. Those small moments in between when they can just be themselves. I think reading the dynamics between two characters is much more interesting then when they're in the thick of a conflict. But maybe that's just me, let me know what you guys think. Would you be interested in more chapters like this? Or do you prefer the case related ones. Please review and let me know what you think. I will take it into consideration when writing future chapters.


	12. Chapter 12

**\- One Month Later -**

"Cat" Sam lightly tapped her shoulder. "Cat, hey, we're here."

Catherine groaned, and opened her eye's groggily. "Where's here?" Her eyes were met by complete darkness and the light of a small hotel to the side of the car. "It's the middle of the night Sam."

"I know. I have some things to check up on here, but you should get some sleep."

"Like what? Where are we that you have stuff to check up on?" She asked confused, still half asleep.

"Don't worry about it. The room's paid for, bags are put away. Just go in and get some rest."

Catherine nodded and opened her car door. She shivered in the cool night air then made her way up to the motel room that shared a number with the key Sam handed her.

She sat down on the bed her bag laid on and unzipped it slightly. Just enough to reach her hand in and feel around for something soft. She grabbed a fistful of a light but still thick fabric and pulled it out before zipping her bag back up. She quickly pulled off her day clothes and pulled the warm blue button up over her head and curling up under the thin cheap motel blankets.

Sam drove a few miles down the road before pulling off into a empty mall parking lot. He pulled up beside the only other car. A short brunette stood outside leaning against the passenger side door.

"Ruby" Sam greeted as he rolled his window down.

"Sam" Her eyes flashed black for a moment before returning to normal.

Sam grimaced. "Don't do that."

She shook her head disapprovingly. "Whatever. What's with all the secrecy anyway? Not getting ashamed of me now are you?"

"I've always been ashamed of you. And it's secret because I don't want Cat to find out about you."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Again with Catherine, yeah I get it. You just gotta have that holier then though partner with you at all times don't you. First there was Dean, now with this girl? I mean you don't even know her. We were doing fine. I was helping you, you were getting stronger, then she starts to tag along with you and suddenly it's all secret meet ups in the dark." She moved closer to the Impala "I mean don't get me wrong, being your dirty little secret is kind of ho.."

Sam jerked his hand away from hers. "Don't." He looked at her seriously.

"Oh come on Sam. Don't be so dramatic. Let's just do the deed and get it done with." She lowered the demon blade to her wrist and cut down sharp and fast. She raised her wrist to his mouth and he grabbed a hold of it putting it to his lips.

When he was finished she pulled her wrist back and it healed instantly. "Now go, tuck your little princess in and have a great night." She spoke with an annoyed sarcasm. "I'll text you next time we'll meet up. Maybe next time we can make for more time and we can actually talk plans."

Sam could feel his new powers coursing through his veins. He looked down at his lap in shame before driving back to the motel. He walked into the room and sat on the edge of his bed. His head fell into his hands and he breathed out heavily. He looked over at the girl across from him. Her red hair fell loosely along the side of her face. Her head laid on her hand, which was covered by the over long sleeve of a blue flannel. He did a double take looking back over the blue shirt. It'd been years, but he still recognized it as his. She looked so peaceful. He knew he had to tell her. But how could he?

(Sorry for the short chapter. More's coming along this story line. Fun fact disregarding this little parenthetical here at the end there was exactly 666 words in this chapter. So that's fun.)


	13. Chapter 13

**\- Next Day _**

Sam and Catherine woke up early the next morning and went for a run like they always did. The entire time Sam's thoughts weighing on him. When they arrived back in the room Catherine jumped in the shower and Sam sat with his thoughts. Fake conversation after fake conversation he mulled over how to tell her a million times in his head. Catherine stepped out of the bathroom wearing a towel wrapped around the top of her head and an over sized sweat shirt that fell to just above her knees. It was Sam's, but at this point they had been together for so long that neither thought it was weird if she borrowed some of his clothes from time to time. She found their largeness (and how they smelled like him) comforting, and he honestly thought they looked better on her than on him.

Seeing her in his clothes made it that much harder. She trusted him, she believed in him. What would she think of him when she found out.

"So where are we headed today? What's the game plan?" She asked as she bent at the waist letting her auburn hair fall before rustling a towel over it to try and dry it more.

"Catherine" He spoke seriously and she looked up at him in confusion. "I have to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" She moved over closer to him in concern.

"Here" He motioned to the corner of her motel bed. "You're going to want to sit down."

She sat in silence and stared at him as he spoke.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT A/N:** Ok, please don't hate me guys, but I'm not writing this scene. For multiple reasons the least of which but the main reason I'm going to state being, I don't want to. It'll take too long and the scene will get too complicated. I just want to move on with the story because this portion isn't my focus, but it is an important block that I do need to cover at least a little. So long story short I'm picking up 3 weeks later. Sam told Catherine about how he'd been drinking Ruby's blood, at first she freaked out a little but as soon as he told her how he could use it to help people and expel demons she accepted it. She didn't love it, but she understood that if it helped people and he wanted to there was nothing that she could do to stop it. 3 weeks later everything's good between them again, and Catherine knows that Sam is still meeting up with Ruby. What she doesn't know is that Ruby has been helping Sam in his attempts to try and get Dean back. She's been telling him about demons that might know how to get Dean free. This next scene picks up as Sam is trying to strike a deal with yet another cross road demon Ruby set him up with while Catherine is back at their motel room thinking Sam is meeting up with Ruby. Also between everything they've been working on cases and all the regular things that are in Supernatural episodes. See, now aren't you glad I just told you all this right now instead of writing 3 poorly done chapters over exactly what I just said. Now back to the story. **i!** **IMPORTANT PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING THE STORY OR YOU WILL BE CONFUSED !i**

* * *

Sam stood on the side of the cross road, having burred a box, he now just needed to wait.

A tall thin black man appeared in the center of the road. He was wearing dark dress pants and a light blue button up shirt.

"Balan" Sam spoke from behind him. The demon turned to look at him, his eyes completely black.

"Sam Winchester. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Cut the small talk. I'm here to make a deal."

"About your brother, I've heard. Nasty little set up he's got going on down there. Shame I couldn't be there to help."

Sam stepped forward in anger.

"Ah-uh-ah. Now we wouldn't want to do that now would we. Never get pore Deany boy outta there alive without me."

"You can save him?" Sam asked his eye gleaming with hope.

"Maybe."

"Don't play games with me right now. Yes or no?"

"Yes. But for a price."

"Yeah, my soul I know. If I give you my soul, can you get him back to earth, completely safe no strings attached."

"I can try my damnedest."

"Trying's not good enough. You give me your word now that it will happen or the deal is off."

"I'll do it. Now just come on over here and we'll seal it with a handshake."

Sam hesitated for a moment. This decision was rash, it was reckless, it was undeniably a bad one. But it was his only choice. It was Dean's only hope. He stepped forward, his hand extending.

Suddenly a loud bang sounded, shooting Balan's hand away from Sam. They both turned over to look at where the sound originated and saw Catherine standing there in the darkness pointing a shot gun at them.

"Now that was just a warning shot, so I'd suggest you get the hell out of here before I make you wish you had." She grabbed a book from her pocket and started chanting a demonic exorcism spell. "Sam move" she yelled over at him.

"Oh, little girl you have no idea what you're messing with." Balan waved his hand and she flew backwards hitting a tree before falling to the ground.

Sam rushed to her side, her eyes were blurry, but she was conscious.

"Catherine, hey speak to me" He looked into her eyes waiting for recognition.

"Come on Sammy boy, I don't have all night. Places to go, people to kill, souls to take. Get a move on."

"Give me a minute," Sam protested.

"I'm sorry, are you mad I hurt your girlfriend. I took you for a serious business man. But I guess if I'm just working with a love struck young boy I'll take my business else where."

Before Sam could say another word Balan had vanished.

Sam got up torun after him but he was already gone.

"Sam.." Catherine stuttered as she picked herself up from the ground.

"What are you doing here?" He asked

"WHAT AM I DOING HERE!?" She yelled back at him, her voice quaking. "What the actual fuck Sam!?"

"Wha-" he was shocked, only seconds ago she was nearly unconscious on the ground, now she was chewing his head off standing like nothing had happened.

"Don't Sam! Don't even start with me right now! What the actual fuck were you doing?"

"Ruby told me Balan would know a way to get Dean out of hell." He replied.

"So you thought what? You'd just make a deal, switch your soul out for Dean's? HOW STUPID ARE YOU!? You've been here before, like they would actually let one of you live."

"What am I supposed to do Cat? Just leave Dean down there? In hell forever? Alone?" He retorted.

"YES Sam! Dean is DEAD. It sucks and it hurts, and you're aloud to be sad. I'm sad. But he's gone. You have to MOVE on." She screamed at him, choking out words as tears streamed down her face.

"I lost my brother Catherine? That's not something you just move on from." He snapped back her, his arms flailing up in the air.

"And I lost my sister! Or did you forget about that? I know how that hurts and I would do absolutely anything to get Elizabeth back. But she's gone, and so is Dean. There's nothing we can do to get them back. And all you trying to get your self killed does, is leave me here. Alone!" Her anger subsided for a moment and sadness consumed her. She felt her body caving in on itself, it took everything in her to keep standing and not just fall into a ball on the ground. She cried in silence, refusing to look at him. "I don't want to be alone again Sam. Not again." Her voice and body quaking.

Sam stood in silence, staring at the girl he had grown so close to over these past months. Her hair tousled with dirt and leaves stuck throughout. Her shirt cocked over one shoulder, where it didn't belong. This was his fault, he had done this to her. She was crying over him, she was injured trying to save him. And he repaid her, by not even considering how getting Dean back would affect her.

He reached forward to touch her shoulder, to sooth her. "Catherine," He kept his voice quiet, almost still. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't think.."

She snapped her head up and looked him straight in the eye. There was no more sadness, no more anger, nothing, just a stoic look that spoke volumes without saying a word at all. Her voice a monotone he couldn't discern. "I know you didn't think Sam. Why would you think it would be of any importance to me what happened to you. Well I'm done Sam." She stepped back from him creating a distance. "You could never trust me, could you? When you were a mess about Dean, I stood by you. When you were bossy on jobs, or reckless, I stood by you. When you drank _demon_ blood, I stood by you. But I refuse to just stand here and watch, while you try and kill yourself. I love you too much for that." She paused, guilt and embarrassment written on her face at the emission.

They stared at each other, neither breaking the silence.

Sam spoke first "Catherine, I-"

"Save it" She responded brushing his hand aside and turning, walking away from him.

* * *

Half an hour later he arrived back at the hotel expecting to find an angry Catherine, settling down who he could talk things through with. He knew she was mad, and he knew why, he deserved the anger, he was ready to apologize. He just hoped she'd accept it. Maybe she was right, maybe it was time to let Dean go, not fully. He would still do everything in his power to get Dean out of hell. But she was right, selling his own soul wouldn't help anything. He also wanted to address her saying she loved him too much to watch him hurt himself. He hated to admit it, but he loved her too. When he was with her, he could forget about everything some times. She got him, in ways no one else ever has or could. Not even Jess. Jess was perfect in almost every way, but she never knew the hunter side of himself because he never showed it to her. Catherine got his hunter side, the things she could do in a fight were absolutely amazing, and she loved researching just as much as him. But she also understood the other part of him. The real, person side of him. They liked the same movies, and the same music. He loved how she looked in his big shirts, and the smile she got when she watched him when she thought he wasn't looking, how she moved from laying on each of her sides at least 10 times a night if not more. He loved how she could beat him in a race, and then eat her weight in pancakes, and he loved her big mouth. That was never shy about being too loud for the situation. She spoke her mind, and let people know what was what. And somehow it took her saying it for him to realize it. But he was madly in love with her too. He was ready to tell her that and so much more when he got back to the room. He opened the door expecting to see her, but the room was empty. No trace of Catherine, or any of her belongings. Her drawers were empty, her bed made, with his blue flannel left behind on her bed.

Sam picked up the shirt and sat on her bed. He brought it to his face, it no longer smelt like his shirt, it was hers. She'd kept it for 3 years to remind her of him, and now she felt she didn't need it. Now it would be his to remind himself of her until they met again. How had he let this happen. How had everything gone so wrong.

How in one small mistake, were they both now truly alone.

AN: So I posted this last night, then went to sleep and woke up this morning and realized leaving it here like this was so not cool, haha. This is just a cliff hanger, not the last we will see of Sam and Cat. I will be back with another chapter, hopefully soon. But I know I can be really spacey and unreliable with my chapters. So I just wanted to make sure you guys knew I wasn't just finishing the story like that and moving on. There is more. That would be a horrible ending oml.


	14. Chapter 14

**\- 7 WEEKS LATER -**

Catherine woke up in a cold sweat from a dream. _God Dammit._ It had been months since she'd left Sam, she thought she was finally getting okay with being alone. It was better this way. Hunters live a solitary life, only reason Sam and Dean pull it off is because they're brothers, family. Catherine no longer had a family, and she had to accept that. Life with Sam was a fantasy, but it could never be real. She finally understood why all the stories Sam told were "complicated", because everything about being a hunter was complicated. She was finally adjusting to this fact, so why was she dreaming of him, and why was Dean there? She loved Dean, but if she was going to be dreaming of Sam and drudging all this back up. She'd rather her and Sam be the only feature characters, and hunting wouldn't be the primary activity. Although maybe Dean could be there too. No, wait they're brothers. That's gross. Bad thoughts Catherine. Besides it was probably just her subconscious wishing he was back from hell. But that wasn't happening either. And the last thing she needed right now was to be thinking about Sam, and Dean being in hell. Two things that just made her sad, and she was just so done being sad. She needed to move on, and that's what she would do.

* * *

 **\- 2 WEEKS LATER -**

Dean pushed Sam to wake him up from his nap in the Impala. Sam shuttered as he woke up from a dream, another one of Catherine.

Dean rolled his eyes, his brother's thoughts written all over his face. "Why don't you just call her?" He asked.

"Huh" Sam questioned, his brain still mostly asleep.

"Catherine, every night you have those dreams about her. It's tearing you up man. Just call her."

"You know why I can't do that." He said sitting up in his chair waking up. "She left, because she needed to. I don't want to press her. If she decides one day she doesn't completely hate me anymore, then she will come find me. In her own time."

"Nah, I call bull shit. You're both just scared. You two had a bond or whatever, and you fucked that up. No way she's just walking back up to you, just like you wouldn't do to her. You're both just a bunch of scared pansies. Make a move or you'll never see her again, I swear to God."

Sam sat there in silence. He knew Dean was right. The only thing that would fix things with him and Catherine would be an apology, and he couldn't very well apologize if he never saw her again. And the idea of never seeing her again, that smile, her hair, physically hurt him. They sat in silence the rest of the drive.

Over the next few weeks Sam would call her over a dozen times, and she would decline every one. After a while he gave up.

Catherine saw every call, and denied every one. If she was ever going to move on, she needed to forget him.

* * *

 **\- 1 YEAR LATER -**

It was late, nearly midnight. Catherine was on her way back to her motel after a fight with a nest of ghouls she had killed. _Time for food_. She thought. She always got hungry after a light night kill. She stopped in a gas station with a diner attached to the side of it. It was late, so the diner was close. Good option for the morning though. She'd keep it in mind for tomorrow morning. Now, gas station hot dogs and a slushie would have to do.

She heard the bell at the door ring, to signify someone entering or exiting the store, but she didn't look up from the row of chips she was inspecting. She grabbed a large bag of chili cheese fritos

She turned to the next row knowing she'd find different kinds of chocolate there. Ok, maybe she was going to eat more then a hot dog. She turned the aisle and saw the silhouette of a taller man at the other end of the aisle but didn't look immediately. She grabbed a thing of M&Ms and stood facing the other end of the aisle to head to the check out counter when she saw him. She froze in her tracks, her fritos and M&Ms falling to the floor.

At the sound of the bags on the ground he turned and looked at her. A large smile plastered across his face. She realized she had yet make any expression. She had barely even processed what him being in front of her meant.

She ran forward and wrapped her arms around the man. "Dean!"

He hugged her back, she leaned back to look at him, a smile stretched large across her face.

"How? When? Oh shit, you're not a demon are you? You know what, I don't even care." She rushed through her words hugging him forcefully again at the end of her sentence.

"Not a demon" He spoke laughing as he held her.

"That's good" she spoke still pressed against him.

"How's a long story, but When was a little less then a year ago."

She paused, backing up from him. "Wait. Sam. Oh my God, please tell me he didn't."

"No no no, Sam's safe. Sam's good" He assured.

She breathed out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Thank God. Her mood changed just as quick as it had come from relief to anger.

"Wait, so you've been back and alive for a year and Sam never even bothered to tell me" indignation evident in her tone

"In Sammy's defense it's not like you've exactly been answering your calls."

She stood there in silence. He was right, she knew he was right. God it had been less then a minute and she'd experienced so many high level emotions, she was exhausted.

"Speaking of Sammy, I know he'd really love to see you Cat. He wasn't just calling you to tell you about me. He also has some things I know he'd like to get off his chest."

"Oh, no. I'm good." Dean looked like he was going to step in but she cut him off. "Look I am so happy your back. So so happy. But I can't do that again. I'm at a good place right now. I mean it's not perfect, but I like it. And seeing Sam.. it's too- look I've finally gotten to a point where I'm okay on my own. I don't need to go back there. Neither of us does."

"Okay, okay. I see you. I get it. No big deal." He paused thinking for a moment. "Look Sammy's up in Dakota right now with Bobby. I was planning on busting up a vamp nest tomorrow night. You down?"

"For sure! When and where?" She asked. He told her the address and the time and she told him she'd meet him there. Buying her snacks, she left and went back to her motel.

Dean bought his snack and headed back to his place as well. He opened the door to his room and threw a bag of chips at Sam who was asleep in a chair with a book open in his lap. He was stirred awake from the impact.

"How was the food run?"

"Uneventful. How was research?"

"Uneventful." Sam replied.


	15. Chapter 15

By the time Catherine woke up it was already past noon the next day. _'That's what you get for staying up until 4 am'_ she thought as she looked at her clock. She was usually awake by 7 at the latest, so today was an especially late start. A run was out of the question, it was the middle of the day so the sun and therefore the heat was at it's full peak. Working out in the motel room would have to suffice for today, had to keep her strength up for hunting some how. She just usually preferred running to strength work. After 50 push ups, 50 sit up, and 30 pull ups on a door frame, she had only wasted an hour and was becoming restless again. Catherine looked through the towns most recent news papers for any information about the nest she was meeting Dean at at 6 but couldn't find anything. No reports of any missing or dead, that was weird. Maybe Dean knew something she didn't? Whatever, she'd see for herself tonight. Two hours had passed, four more hours till she had anywhere to be and she had already exercised, and did her research. She read books on lore to pass the rest of her time before leaving to meet Dean at the address he gave her.

She arrived at the building Dean told her was the nest but everything was quiet. After waiting for 10 minutes she decided to walk in, maybe Dean had got there first and needed back up. Once in side she realized the entire place empty. Squatters probably lived here from time to time, couches were torn up and graffiti covering the walls. She looked around at her surroundings, a cross bow at attention. What was happening, why was this place empty, was it some kind of trap?

* * *

"What are we doing here Dean?" Sam asked his brother as they approached an abandoned building.

"Got a tip. Might be some vamps here." Dean replied walking beside his brother.

"A tip from who?" He wondered, they hadn't meant to stay here in town. They were just passing through over night, but for some reason Dean wanted to stay the day and now this vamp nest from a mystery source. What was happening?

"Look you go in from the front, I'll come up through the back." Dean told his brother motioning around the building as he spoke.

"Alright." Sam agreed, not caring. Vamp nest is a vamp nest. Kill now, ask questions later.

Dean started around the building and Sam opened the front door. He stepped in and closed the door a machete at the ready. He scanned the room and saw in front of him the back of a familiar tall red head. He dropped his weapon as he stared at her. His emotions overwhelming and twisting inside him. First anger at Dean for lying, then happiness to see her, then worry over what she would think, then regret over how their last conversation over a year ago had gone down.

At the sound of the door opening Catherine turned around to face her new companion. Her crossbow at the ready, pointed at the chest of who she now recognized was Sam. She held her weapon still, her finger flexed above the trigger as her entire body tensed. What was he doing there? Dean promised.

The two stood there starring at each other for what felt like ages. Sam's face slowly twisting into a smile as he sorted his emotions, and her's grimacing in anger.

"What is this?" Catherine finally spoke, lowering her weapon.

"Cat- I"

"Dean said you were in Sioux Falls with Bobby. What was this, some kind scheme to trap me, get me alone with you." She shouted.

"I didn't know.. Dean tricked me too. This was all him." a bit of Catherine's anger at him subsided. He stepped forward towards her. "I can't say I'm mad at him though."

Her anger was back. "Well I am. I told Dean I didn't want to see you. Not yet. I'm just- not now." She started moving toward the door.

Sam caught her by the arm turning her to look at him.

"Lay it on me then. I know you're mad, and you have every right to be. I deserve whatever you've got. So yell at me, hell hit me. But don't just walk away again."

She looked into his eyes, her jaw dropped, the balls on this guy. "You want yelling? I'll give you yelling. Don't you dare say again! It's not like I left just for fun, or because I wanted to. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter."

"You always have a choice Catherine." Sam replied

"And what choice was that exactly? Sit around and watch you try and kill yourself? No thank you. I'm good now Sam. I am independent. You and Dean are amazing at what you do, but holy shit is everything with you guys just one shit show after another. I don't need that shit anymore. Also fuck you! I cared about you, I was there for you, I was-. You were- , you were all I had. And you paid me back by what? I get that you wanted Dean back, he is your family, but so was I! And you didn't even consider me. You were fully willing to just leave me behind in the rubble. Did you even care when I left?"

"Of course I cared." Sam replied instantly at the allegation "I thought of you everyday you were gone."

She froze for a moment she could see in his eyes he meant it.

"Catherine, I messed up. I know what I did was fucked up, and I am so sorry. Is there anyway you can forgive me?" He asked.

Something about his words stuck with her, it could have been the tone of his voice, or the look in his eyes, but something about when he spoke to her said I love you. All of her anger fell away as she looked into his eyes. Just from his eyes she could feel everything he felt. He was in agony from the pain he put her through, and somehow at the same time he was happier then ever before, just looking at her. She couldn't be mad at those eyes.

"Cat, I'm sor-" his words were cut off as she dove forward wrapping her arms around him.

He melted into her embrace and she crumbled at his touch. It was like they had both been holding their breath since the last time they'd seen each other and they could each finally breath. Sam had been so worried about her for so long, not knowing if she was dead or alive, seeing her here, feeling her against him under his arms. It was a kind of relief he had only ever felt once before, when Dean came back. She was right, she was his family. And he was just too blind to see it before.

She squeezed tightly against him never wanting to let go. All pretense that she had trying to convince herself of for a year melted away. She wasn't okay with out him. She did need him, and she wanted to need him. She missed him so much, and she wanted him in her life. Seeing him, feeling him above her, smelling him. He smelt comfortable, he smelt like home. A scent she hadn't experienced in a while. She could have stayed in his arms forever, but eventually she knew it was time to separate.

Catherine drew back from their embrace and looked into his eye. "I missed you too. This doesn't mean everything is just good now though."

"That's okay. Just as long as you're here, we can get to okay later."

Dean opened the door and looked at the couple standing mere inches from each other.

"You two kiddos work everything out?" He asked in his usual casual tone.

Catherine looked at him and smiled. "Yes, thank you." They all headed out to leave the building and when Catherine passed Dean she shoved him against the door. "But if you ever try and trick me again I will severely kick your ass. You hear me?"

"Yes ma'am" he replied

"And don't call me ma'am."

"Sir yes sir. So you comin with us?" He asked.

Catherine looked from Sam to Dean and back again thinking. "I don't know"

"You know it's safer" Sam interjected.

"And we could definitely use you on the road with us."

She thought for another moment and caved. "Fine. I have some things to sort out up in Tacoma first, but I'll meet you guys down in Parkdale in a week sound good?"

The brothers nodded and she left.


	16. Chapter 16

"You have my money or not?" Catherine spoke to the man at the bar.

"Listen girly, you said you'd be here for another two weeks. A deal is a deal, we need you here." He spoke back, with a patronizing tone.

"Well deals change. I told you up front, I needed unpredictable hours and cash under the table. When I'm here I work, when I'm not I don't. I have places I need to be. So give me my money. Now." She gave him a look that spoke volumes. "Or I will take it."

He knew she meant it, and from their limited experiences together he knew to be scared when she made a threat because she could definitely hold her own. He went to a back room and grabbed $800 for her.

"Thanks" She said as he handed the cash to her. She headed for the door "And if you ever call me girly again, it'll be your ass. Hear me?" He nodded with a scared expression, and she left the bar.

* * *

 **\- 2 DAYS LATER -**

Catherine arrived at the brother's motel in Parkdale at 11 pm.

"So where are we research wise, what do we know?" She asked them.

"Looks like a classic were wolf situation." Sam said looking up from his book.

"3 people have already been killed. Four a month ago and two last night, which mean's he's probably still out there ready to kill more people."

"Any leads?" She asked.

"Nothing solid. We'll split up and look into it tomorrow. Right now we sleep though." Dean replied.

The three looked around at each other, there were 2 beds and 3 of them. So either two people were sharing or one person got the couch. Sam spoke up before the awkward silence took too long.

"I'll take the couch." He stated matter of factly before stepping into the bathroom to change in something to sleep in. Dean gave her a look.

"What?" She asked.

"Oh, you know what." He stated accusingly.

"I'm fairly certain I don't"

"Fine, play dumb. Like you don't see you giving him the cold shoulder is killing him"

"Dean, you know I'm not ready to fully forgive him. We have.. stuff. You weren't there you don't know."

"I know you care about each other. And acting like you don't is stupid and a waste of everybody's time. You're breaking his heart Cat."

"Well he broke mine first." She retorted before thinking, then blushing at the emission.

Dean was about to speak when Sam exited the bathroom. Dean then Catherine followed in his actions of using the bathroom to change then they all went to sleep on their separate surfaces.

Catherine layed down parallel to the couch Sam layed on and closed her eyes. Sam stayed awake for another 15 minutes just watching her. Her face falling up and down as she breathed, she was peaceful. And he went to sleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

It was 6 am and an alarm sounded waking every one in the room up. Dean grumbled something about it being too early and turned his head falling back asleep, but Sam and Catherine took it as a queue for their days to start.

"You going for a run?" Sam asked her as they both stood up from their 'beds'.

"Yeah." She replied monotoned stepping into the bathroom to brush her teeth and change her clothes. Sam followed, but by the time he had left the bathroom she had already left the room. He followed and quickly caught up to her.

Sam noticed she was wearing head phones and took it as a queue to leave her alone. The two ran side by side in silence for 2 miles before returning to the room. When they did Dean was just getting up from his bed.

"Hey kiddies. Have a productive morning so far." He spoke to both of them whipping sleep from his eyes but not his voice.

"Went for a run, you should really try it some time." She joked, tapping his stomach with the towel she had previously been wearing round her neck.

"Hey, I exercise. I am very fit." Dean responded, self consciously.

"Sure you are." She teased him again.

"Listen, last place the most recent victims Amy and Travis were seen was a bar down town. Might be a lead, we should check it out."

"Agreed." Sam and Catherine both spoke at once. Catherine rolled her eyes and pretended she hadn't noticed.

"We should wait till tonight though, see what the place is like when it's busy. Interview families today?" Catherine suggested.

"We already got them, not a lot to go from." Sam replied looking at her, but she refused to meet his gaze.

"Alright, then friends?" She looked at Dean as she spoke.

"Friends had a different story. Parents all gave descriptions of well meaning upstanding kids. Friends said all three were party animals, and quite the mean kids. Enemies coming out the wazoo."

"Cool, so we talking to these enemies?" She asked.

"That's the plan for today." Sam spoke.

"Sammy and I were going to check out a few people, you want to come, or divide and concur, we give you part of the list and you go your own?" Dean stated.

She looked at the paper of names and addresses he was handing her and took. "Divide and concur" She repeated. "Meet you guy's at the bar at 8 tonight?"

"Meet you there." Sam replied and they all headed out their separate ways.

Catherine interviewed four kids under the 'guise of being an FBI agent. Man did she not miss being in high school, those kids are the worst. She couldn't even tell if the dead kids were the jerks or their 'friends' were. The way the 'friends' told it, the dead kids were awful. But just from meeting these kids she didn't blame the deceased for doing anything they may or may not have done.

"High schooler's are demon spawn. Every last one." Cat spoke to the brothers as she approached them in the bar.

"Damn right." Dean replied, obviously having had a similar day.

"What were they even doing here? They were kids. This is a bar."

"And like most kids, they had what is known as a fake ID."

"The bartender, he's up there. He's the one we gotta talk to. Last one to talk to Amy."

Sam and Dean started to approach the bar, Catherine following close behind.

"Collin Hoffton?" Sam said to the man approaching the bar with his fake badge out.

"Who wants to know?" He replied very nonchalant while cleaning a glass.

"FBI" Dean said, trying to sound intimidating.

Hoffton turned to look at Sam's badge, still held up.

"We would like to ask you a few questions about the recent murders of Amy Coleman and Travis Young." Sam said sounding very official, it reminded Catherine of the first time they met.

"Don't know anything." The bartender spoke refusing to look up from the glass he was cleaning.

Dean opened his mouth to speak, frustrated. She could tell he was just itching to start a confrontation.

Catherine stretched her arm out in front of Dean keeping him back "I got this. I work as a bartender a lot. I speak his language, just give me a minute." she whispered to Dean.

He grunted signifying he didn't like this plan then tapped Sam turning to walk back from the bar. Sam was confused but followed his brother back to a table where they stared at the bar. Catherine was leaned over the bar smiling at the bartender. Sam wanted to tell them to get a room, she was all over him, it was ridiculous. She was smiling and giggling and he saw her hand him a piece of paper.

"Did she just hand him her phone number?" Sam asked his brother, indignation in his tone.

"Dude, she's getting information. You do what you gotta do. Calm down."

Sam grunted. He knew Dean was right, but he was still annoyed. Catherine turned from the bar and walked over to them with a sultry grin on her face, swaying her hips as she walked, the bar tender staring at her ass.

"Travis and Amy were here Friday night. Colin said Amy was being loud, Travis came in with a blonde girl pulled her out caused a big scene. Either of you interview a bossy tiny blonde girl? Because I'm thinking that's our wolf."

"So he's Collin now." Sam said under his breath, annoyed.

"Sounds like Rebecca. Knew that girl was sketchy. Too clean, too neat, too smiley. It's not natural." Dean spoke up covering his brother's comment.

"You know where we can find her?" Cat asked.

"We can look at her house." Sam suggested and they headed for the door.

Sam took the lead, Catherine and Dean walking slowly behind, "Did you really give that guy your number?" Dean asked her quietly enough so that Sam couldn't hear.

"Oh God no," she laughed. "I gave him a $20 so he'd talk." She didn't admit that the rest of the act was to make Sam jealous, but she got the feeling Dean knew. Also it totally worked, because Sam was fuming like a chimney.

They arrived at Rebecca's house to find her front door wide open, a bloody hand print on the the railing of the porch.

"Shit!" Dean yelled running up to the house. "We're too late,"

Sam looked around the house. There was a line through the grass and the leaves, where someone had obviously been dragged. "This way he yelled."

They ran through the woods behind the house before they came to a small abandoned hunting cabin. They heard a scream from inside.

"You two go in the front, I'll come around the side." Dean ordered as he was already walking.

Sam burst the front door open and was immediately jumped on by a beast.

"Dean it's a pack!" Catherine screamed as a warning before running in to help Sam. Sam fought off the one while Catherine took on two more. They each lunged at her and she ducked before punching the other in the face. She reached for her gun and shot each straight in the heart with silver bullets. She turned around to help Sam, assuming the beast would already be dead. But instead found Sam unconscious on the floor the werewolf's arm in the air ready to slice into Sam's chest and eat his heart. She reacted instantly shooting it 3 times in the head.

"Sam!" She screamed running to his side and kneeling by him. She shook him, but no response. "Sam can you hear me?"

She shook him again, still nothing. She put her fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse and felt nothing. She felt her breath hitch in her throat. This was not happening. It couldn't be. Not Sam, not now. She propped his head back, opened his mouth and began to administer CPR. After 3 passes between chest compression's and breathing into his mouth Sam finally gasped. His eyes opened slightly. He was stable, she finally felt herself breath and few tears fell from her face. For a moment she had legitimately thought that was the end, that she had lost him for good.

"Cat" he spoke lightly as he slowly regained consciousness, she brushed the side of his face with the back of her hand looking into his eyes.

"I'm right here Sam. You're going to be fine." He smiled up at her, she smiled back and a few more tears fell form her eyes.

Suddenly the wall at the edge of the room came crashing in on them a were wolf falling through, followed closely behind by Dean. As the debris from the wall flew towards them Sam and Catherine tumbled a few feet over together. They landed, Catherine hitting her head against the wooden floor, and Sam catching himself directly above her before landing his own body on top of hers. They looked into each others eyes and it was like the world stood still and for a moment the only thing that existed was the two of them. Catherine looked from his eyes to his lips and back again. Sam brushed a strand of hair out her face and began to lower his face. Then a bang sounded from the corner and they both turned to look at it, breaking the spell they had between them. Dean had shot the were wolf.

"Leaving! Now!" Dean yelled at them heading for the door. Sam pushed his own body up, helping Catherine up after him. He was still a little banged up so Catherine helped him walk out back to the car. Holding his arm over her shoulder for support.


End file.
